Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is in London to ‘purchase Tottenham’ as takeover saga evolves.
The worst kept secret in football finance for some time has been that Tottenham Hotspur are for sale, with Daniel Levy only going public with the search for fresh investment in April.
From ENIC and Levy’s perspective, they have long been open to negotiations if the price is right, although the mood music in North London has always been that a minority investment is the likeliest option.
Diagram showing the ownership structure of Tottenham, including Daniel Levy, the discretionary trust benefitting the family of Joe Lewis, ENIC, and 30,000 other Spurs investorsAmanda Staveley has been strongly linked with investing in Spurs, with the former Newcastle United supremo having assembled a consortium and raised around £500m for a new football project.
There have been groups and individuals who have had Tottenham in the crosshairs for a full takeover too.
TBR Football understands that MSP Sports Capital, who failed in a bid to buy Everton last year, went as far as to appoint a consultancy firm to carry out research with a view to a full bid.
Others have been linked too – Paris Saint-Germain owners Qatar Sports Investments, Formula One proprietors Liberty Media, and the rapper-turned-investor Jay-Z, to name a handful.
Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy attends the Tottenham Hotspur and LA Galaxy reception held at the British Consul Generals residence on July …
Photo by Toby Canham/Getty Images
Spurs meanwhile have enlisted the Rothschild bank to smoke out potential new partners in order to, in Levy’s own words, acquire a “significant increase in its equity base.”
Any deal – be that a minority arrangement or full takeover – would not come cheap.
Levy values Spurs at £3.75bn and, given his reputation as a formidable negotiator, he is unlikely to give any would-be investor much breathing space in talks.
Astonishingly, a sale at that price would represent a world-record for a football takeover and a circa 4000% markup on Levy and ENIC’s initial investment.
And, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire told TBR earlier this year, the 62-year-old executive is justified in his appraisal of the club he has supported since he was a boy.
Fans are routinely frustrated at what they perceive to be the club’s commercial orientation under Levy and ENIC, but their growth as a business since the move to the new stadium in 2019 has been stupefying.
