Tether stake sale talks are underway as former CIO Richard Heathcote seeks buyers for part of his holding in the stablecoin issuer.
Richard Heathcote, the former head of investments at Tether, is looking to sell a portion of his 1.26% ownership interest in the company through PJT Partners, an investment banking and advisory firm, Bloomberg has learned, citing people familiar with the matter.
These discussions involve Heathcote selling a portion of his personal stake, and not a fundraise by Tether, and follow his exit from the company earlier this year and assuming an advisory role.
Heathcote had joined Tether in January 2023 from his job as a broker at BGC Group, which was associated with Cantor Fitzgerald.
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Tether CIO Stake Sale Follows Bigger Raise Pause
Tether earlier paused plans to raise money at a valuation as high as $500 billion while it awaits the results of its first full financial audit.
The company has also hired one of the Big Four accounting firms to conduct the audit, though details remain undisclosed. The fundraising pause came after potential investors and bankers pushed for more transparency around Tether’s finances.
Tether made a huge profit of over $10 billion in its financial attestation report earlier this year, which is mostly due to a business wherein USDT▲$0.9991 is collateralized by reserves such as U.S. Treasury bills and the company holds onto the income generated from these investments.
However, Tether had blocked some of the existing shareholders from doing a secondary sale of the stocks back in November because of the possibility that it might disrupt the primary fundraising. Heathcote has reportedly received approval from Tether to sell his stocks.
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