Two months after Tottenham Hotspur majority owner Joe Lewis was charged in the U.S. with insider trading — and subsequently released on a $300 million bond — the Premier League club is talking about adding new investors.
Club chairman Daniel Levy said that the team, recently valued at $2.8 billion by Forbes, is open to selling a minority stake to qualified interested parties. “We run this club as if it’s a public company. If anyone wants to make a serious proposition to the board of Tottenham, we would consider it,” Levy said to Bloomberg.
Earlier this year, before Lewis’ legal situation arose, Tottenham reportedly shot down takeover bids worth close to $4 billion. Levy confirmed that the club has previously received offers from investors in the Far East, Middle East, and the U.S.
Levy and some of his family members own about 30% of ENIC Sports Inc. — the company that controls nearly 90% of Tottenham. The Lewis Family Trust owns the majority of ENIC. For now, Tottenham’s chairman said he isn’t interested in leaving the club if new investors arrive.
Off The Pitch
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been one of the most interesting business stories in sports since it opened in 2019. The venue is the only one outside of the U.S. built for specific NFL use — and recently extended its deal to host multiple NFL games through 2030.
Originally, inking a lucrative naming rights deal was a main priority for Tottenham — reports last year suggested pacts could be worth nearly $700 million and linked Google to talks. But Levy said that’s no longer the case, and that selling the naming rights would now take “somebody who pays the right money in the right sector.”
