Tottenham Hotspur owners, ENIC, have firmly stated that the north London club is not for sale despite rumours of a record £4.5 billion takeover bid from a US consortium.
Recent reports suggest that tech entrepreneur Brooklyn Earick is leading a consortium interested in purchasing the club. This comes just weeks after Spurs' owners dismissed two informal approaches to buy their majority stake in the Premier League team.
Earick, who earlier this year failed to acquire Formula E team Maserati, is reportedly spearheading a £3.3 billion takeover bid from a group of 12 investors including NFL and NBA stakeholders. An additional £1.2 billion has been earmarked as transfer funds for head coach Thomas Frank. This total package would surpass Todd Boehly's acquisition of Chelsea at £4.25 billion in 2022.
ENIC’s stance on sale
Despite these rumours, insiders close to the Lewis family who operate Tavistock (the company behind ENIC) maintain that Tottenham is not up for sale and no bid or expression of interest has been received from Earick's consortium at this stage.
ENIC holds an 87% stake in Tottenham Hotspur but due to remaining shares being publicly traded, any expression of interest or bid must be lodged with the UK takeover code panel and made public - which hasn't happened yet. Whether ENIC would reconsider their position if an actual bid were made remains uncertain.
The Lewis family are key players during this period of significant transformation at Spurs with Daniel Levy stepping down as chairman after 24 years following an internal review instigated by them. Vivienne and Charles Lewis have been present at recent home matches against Villarreal and Doncaster Rovers respectively while Vivienne also joined the club on their summer tour to Asia.
Earlier this month, an Asian consortium of investors led by Dr Roger Kennedy and Wing-Fai Ng via Firehawk Holdings Limited informally indicated their intention to bid for Spurs. Amanda Staveley and PCP International Finance Ltd also showed interest without formally indicating a forthcoming bid. However, PCP later clarified that they would not be making an offer. In response to the takeover interest, ENIC confirmed that they had "received and unequivocally rejected separate preliminary expressions of interest" to acquire their entire stake in the club.
Spurs CEO, Vinai Venkatesham, said:
"There's been a lot of newspaper articles and a lot of media speculation around a takeover, so I can be really clear on this. So the Lewis family are really clear. They see their involvement in Tottenham Hotspur being long-term and they see their involvement continuing through the generations. We made a statement very late last night and a statement I hope was unambiguously clear that Tottenham Hotspur is not for sale."
£250 million stadium naming rights agreement
The report regarding Earick's bid also references a £250 million stadium naming rights agreement secured by the consortium. However, this sum would represent the lower end of such arrangements unless it covers only a brief period.
For comparison, NBA sides Lakers and Clippers' home ground was rebranded as Crypto.com Arena under a £565 million 20-year naming rights agreement while SoFi Stadium housing NFL franchises Rams and Chargers opened with naming rights valued at £504 million across 20 years.
Given Tottenham Hotspur Stadium's worldwide recognition for football alongside other sporting occasions and concerts, any naming rights agreement is expected to mirror its standing as one of the globe's premier venues.
