Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
£3.75bn Tottenham takeover update as ‘one of football’s most powerful’ billionaires speaks out
Daniel Levy publicly announced that Tottenham were for sale in April but, in reality. the hierarchy have been courting fresh investment for far longer.
In a statement accompanying Spurs�latest accounts �which saw the club post club-record revenues of almost £550m �chairman and co-owner Levy revealed the club was “in discussions�with investors.
His language was diplomatically vague, not specifying whether ENIC were seeking a full or partial sale.
Both options are believed to be on the table, although reports that the owners value the club at £3.75bn suggested that a 10-15 per cent sale is the most likely outcome at present.
A number of groups have been linked with a deal.
Most recently, ex-Newcastle United co-owner and director Amanda Staveley has been said to be looking at Spurs having raised £500m for a new football investment through her firm PCP Capital Partners.
Previously, Paris Saint-Germain benefactors Qatar Sports Investment have been loosely linked with a Spurs deal, as have Formula One investors and the world’s most valuable sports group Liberty Media.
However, predating the reported interest of every one of those parties is the New York-headquartered group MSP Sports Capital.
If that name sounds familiar, it might be because the global private equity firm recently failed in a bid to take over Everton.
But with the group seemingly uninterested in re-entering talks with Farhad Moshiri after Dan Friedkin pulled out of buying Everton, the latest news could signal that Spurs may still be in their crosshairs.
- READ MORE TOTTENHAM NEWS: Tottenham now considering move for ‘towering�international midfielder
Jahm Najafi outlines investment ambitions amid Tottenham takeover latest
Before Spurs formally announced that they were looking to sell, sources had told TBR that the club had been ‘on the market�for several years.
Levy has always maintained that he had a duty to ENIC shareholders to give due consideration to offers and that they had received offers in the past, although none that matched their valuation.
MSP are believed to have gone further down this route than any other party in recent years, going as far as to conduct full due diligence and hold exploratory talks with the club.
Their interest in Everton signalled that they had moved on but, with that door now closed and a finite number of investable clubs for sale, it is hard to imagine that Spurs are not now on their radar once more.
In a new development, MSP partner Jahm Najafi, who is a highly diversified investor across different sectors, has told that he is currently “focused on sports.�/p>
Najafi is a partner at MSP alongside Jeff Moorad, who The Sporting News have named on their list of the most powerful people in sport eight times in total.
If MSP are looking for a capital appreciation project that most analysts believe is one of the most promising in sports at present, they will surely be considering Spurs once again.
TBR Analysis: When will Spurs accept new investment offer? What is Joe Lewis’s role at the club?
Levy is a tough negotiator and his £3.75bn valuation of Spurs has raised eyebrows in some quarters.
At that price, a full sale of the club would make it comfortably the biggest takeover in football history.
That greatly reduces the number of groups with the capital to pull off a deal, although a minority investment with a premium is more achievable.
While takeovers of Newcastle and Everton have been protracted affairs fraught with regulatory complexities, Levy would not push ahead with an offer that he was not certain would be ratified �both by ENIC and the Premier League.
It is therefore likely that, once a buyer emerges, a deal could be quite quickly, in relative terms at least.
Joe Lewis’s conviction for insider trading last year saw him step down from his role at Spurs.
Although his family trust still controls his shares, there is sufficient corporate separation that the former owner would not present any issues.