PANews reported on April 2 that according to The Block, stablecoin issuer Circle disclosed in its IPO prospectus submitted on Tuesday that it acquired the "remaining 50% of the outstanding equity of Centre Consortium" from Coinbase for $210 million in equity in 2023. Centre Consortium was originally a joint venture entity for the two parties to jointly operate the USDC stablecoin.
According to the "Major Transactions" section of the prospectus: "In August 2023, at the same time as the signing of the cooperation agreement, we acquired the remaining 50% equity of Centre Consortium LLC from Coinbase." The transaction consideration was paid with approximately 8.4 million shares of Circle common stock (a total of US$209.9 million at fair value). After the acquisition, Centre became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Circle and was dissolved in December 2023, with its net assets transferred to another wholly-owned subsidiary of Circle.
Coinbase said in its third quarter 2023 financial report: "We have reached a new agreement with Circle to strengthen strategic synergy in the long-term development of the stablecoin ecosystem." However, the details of the equity transaction were not disclosed at the time. Coinbase clarified to the media that the Circle equity it obtained was granted by agreement rather than purchased in cash.
