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News
Newcastle owners PIF may have just dealt blow to Tottenham’s Amanda Staveley takeover hopes
Amanda Staveley achieved semi-legendary status at Newcastle United as the public face of PIF’s takeover in 2021, but the financier now wants to invest in Tottenham.
More accurat𒀰ely, Staveley is believed to have raised £500m via a consortium of high net-worth individuals from the United States, Middle East and beyond.
It has been several months now since Staveley left her role as a director and minority shareholder at Newcastle, where she has admitted she was effectively𝔉 forced൲ out.
She was monumentally popular on Tyneside, with that popularity apparently extending to Newca📖stle players, who were shocked by Staveley’s exit.
In July, Staveley was linked with investing in Spurs, with the former model reportedly desperate to get back into the world of football finance.
There have been few concr🔯ete updates since then, although there have been developments ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚthat might hint that something is brewing behind the scenes.
Staveley has liquidated and then reincorporated several companies, one of which – PCP Capital Partners – was said to be the vehicle through which she was considering investing in Tottenham.
There have also been whispers about Staveley enjoying a robust working relationship with Daniel Levy, who valued Spurs at £3.75bn and is seeking minority investment.
The instant surge in spending that Staveley, along with her husband and co-investor Mehrdad Ghodoussi, oversaw at Newcastle has 🎉sparked hopes among Spurs fans that she could do the same 💝in N17.
And while a Staveley-led investment in North London remains 🦄a distinct possibility, developments at PIF HQ could potentially prove a hurdle
PIF edit football investment strategy: The potential Spurs impact
♏Just as Newcastle weren’t th♌e only club that PIF looked at before they took over Newcastle three years ago, Spurs are not the only investment prospect on Staveley’s radar.
When Bloomberg, whose sources in the world of business are peerless, reported that Staveley had explored Spurs, the financial media outlet also claimed she had an interest in AS Monaco.
Staveley has admitted that she was in Monaco on official busines♍s in May, albeit ostensibly for tඣalks with a potential Newcastle sponsor.
It is also known that �ꦓ�Monaco owner Dmitry Rybolovlev has formally put the club up for sale and has received more than one serious bid for a full takeover.
Significantly, a Saudi-backed consortium with apparent links to PIF were als🐷o among the frontrunners to buy the eight-time♔ Ligue 1 champions.
At the time, the media were reporting that the fate of that deal could hinge on the consortium’s links to PIF and Newcastle✨, wiꦫth UEFA’s conflict of interest rules a potential barrier.
Now, howev🌟er, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyꦺan, who is also the chairman of Newcastle United, has revealed the sovereign wealth fund’s plans to drastically cut their overseas investment.
With foreign investments currently accounting for around 30 per cent of PIF’s £700bn-strong portfolio, Al-Rumayyan sꦇays that will be scaled back to 18-20 per cent in the coming years.
The consensus among football finance analysts and geo🍸political experts is that this will see investment in sporting projects dramatically pared back.
That could potentially leave Staveley with a free run a🥂t Monaco, with PIF unlikely to give their bles💎sing to a Saudi-backed takeover given the new imitative outlined by Rumayyan.
Amanda Staveley’s Monaco masterplan?
Granted, the group linked with investing in Monaco 💎were a separate legal entity from PIF.
However, virtually all fore🔥ign investment from the Kingdom of Saudi ꦑArabia is overseen by the state, so Al-Rumayyan’s comments still have the same implications for Monaco and Spurs.
Monaco would be available 🗹much, much more cheaply for Staveley too, especially if there is less competition from the likes of PIF.
A recent study from Football Benchmark found that Monaco were not in the top-30 most valuable🐲 football clubs in Europe.
For the £500m she has reportedly raised, Staveley would easily be able ๊to acquire the entirety of🌠 Rybolovlev’s 67 per cent stake.
- READ MORE: Manager seriouslꦇy impressed by Tottenham loanee and backs him to be ‘very g💃ood’ in future
Why Staveley might not be suited to Tottenham
At Spurs, by contrast, £500m would likely only get Staveley around a 15 per cent equity st🍸ake, which would not even be enough for the Premier League to classify her 🌼as a person with significant control.
And, as Liverpool University football finance lecturer and industry insider Kieran Maguire exclusively told TBR Football in a previous conversation, Levy is unlikely to want to 🅘cede any control at Spurs.
Staveley herself appears to want a hands-on role, having previously explained that her battle with the degenerative neurological condition Hꦜuntington’s disease means she “needs to work.”
Is Tottenham, where her capital, industry expಌertise and contact book would be welcomed but not necessarily in exchange for voting ൩power, an ideal match?
In any case, the Premier League market is saturated at presenᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚt and any ♍deal for Spurs will likely take a long time to conclude.
Brentford, Crystal Palace, Wolves and West Ham are♋ also attempting to find buyers for minority stakes at present.
Some analysis suggests that stubbornly high interest rates mean the private eq💛uity sector is not as enamoured with Premier League clubs as investment prospects as it once was.
And while there are many who disagree with that persp🔜ect𝔍ive, sky-high enterprise valuations of English clubs may mean some firms may struggle to justify investing in them to their institutional shareholders.
In any case, neither Levy nor Staveley has been forth🍃coming with any official update on reported talks between the ꦆtwo parties.
And if this in♛vestment sไaga is a saga at all, it is likely that we are only at the foothills of it.