Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has confirmed that talks are taking place with potential investors over the sale of a stake in the Premier League football club.
“To capitalise on our long-term potential, to continue to invest in the teams and undertake future capital projects, the club requires a significant increase in its equity base,” Levy said in a statement accompanying the club’s full-year results.
“The board and its advisors [...] are in discussions with prospective investors,” he added.
Spurs reported a near-24% increase in revenue to a record £549.6 million for the year to June, driven by sponsorships, increased TV revenue, prize money from European football and matchday sales.
However, the club also reported a 73% growth in losses to £86.8 million on the back of “significant and continued” investment in the team’s squad.
Spurs also warned that revenue was set to take a hit over the coming year on higher costs and after the club finished too low in the league last summer to secure another season of European football.
Sale talks are understood to be over a minority sale in the club, with Levy controlling a 29.88% stake in Tottenham’s ultimate owner ENIC Group, which owns 86.58%.
Levy had told Bloomberg in September that he had a duty to consider any investment proposals, but that he also had “no real interest” in leaving the club.
A minority stake sale would therefore allow Levy to keep control, having been at the helm since 2001, while increasing cash reserves.
Spurs was estimated by Forbes to be worth US$2.8 billion (£2.2 billion) last May, though this included a near 40% debt gearing given borrowing for its new stadium, which opened in 2019.
The club’s debt increased from £626.1 million to £677.4 million last year meanwhile, though Spurs reassured most of this was subject to fixed rates and did not mature for several years yet.
Based on an auction of Spurs’ stock on private trading platform Asset Match last month, shares were priced at 219p each, ahead of another sale planned for late May.
Though these shares represented a secondary price, this gave the club a market capitalisation of around £500 million, as per Asset Match, which the platform described as “very much undervalued”.