Italian football club Juventus enlist Morgan Stanley to help in €175m bonds sale
Italian footballing giants Juventus have ramped up their efforts to raise money after paying €100m to buy Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo last summer, issuing bonds to investors.
The club originally planned to offer €150m (£131.4m) worth of bonds maturing in around five years at a 3.5 per cent yield, but Morning Wire understands this has increased to €175m.
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The club have enlisted investment bank Morgan Stanley as the sole arranger and lead manager for the sale. Juventus were not immediately available for comment.
The Turin-based club are the most successful in Italy, and last year hammered home the point that they are still one of Europe's premier footballing powers by signing Ronaldo from Spanish rivals Real Madrid.
Juventus become the second Italian club to enter the bond markets after Inter Milan priced €300m of five-year notes in late 2017.
Meanwhile Juve become the third football club Ronaldo has played for that has moved to sell bonds, after his former club Manchester United issued dollar and pound notes in 2010 to refinance debt arising from a leveraged buyout.
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Last month, north London club Tottenham Hotspur overtook Juve to take 10th place in Deloitte’s Football Money League 2019, as revenue leapt to €428.3m (£379.4m) last season from €359.5m in 2016-17.
The 120-year old Juventus, known as the Old Lady of Italian football, won its seventh straight league title last year.