The value of a full Tottenham takeover could break the current world record as Daniel Levy searches for fresh investment in the club.
The Spurs chairman and co-owner revealed in the club’s most recent set of account that Spurs were engaged in talks with a number of parties regarding an equity investment.
The 62-year-old did not indicate whether this would be in the form of a full or partial takeover, but neither option has been ruled out at this stage.
Levy‘s sustainability-first approach has frustrated supporters at times, but most industry experts agree they are the best run club in the Premier League.
And that fact is reflected in their value as a takeover prospect, which has now been assessed by a leading finance analyst.
Spurs takeover would be worth world-record fee
In a superb blog post, the world-renowned football finance expert Swiss Ramble surveyed the landscape in terms of Premier League clubs’ values.
He used the Markham Multivariate Model, which considers a number of financial metrics, to calculate Spurs value at around £2.2bn.
That is second only to Man City and considerably higher than third-place Man United with £1.4bn.
He also used a model based on EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), which valued Spurs at a whopping £4.5bn, this time second only to United.
For good measure, Swiss Ramble also compared his assessment to those calculated by Forbes, Football Benchmark and Sportico, who valued Spurs at £2.5bn, £3bn and £2.75b respectively.
A deal completed at any of those prices would surpass the world-record sum paid by Todd Boehly‘s Clearlake Capital group for Chelsea in 2022, perhaps by a considerable margin.
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Every party linked with a Spurs takeover
Spurs would naturally attract a great deal of interest, from US private equity firms and perhaps the sovereign wealth funds that are making huge inroads into football too.
So far, there have been four parties linked with investment in Spurs in recent times
The first was MSP Sports Capital, the New York-headquartered group chaired by Jeff Moorad and Jahm Najaffi, two hugely influential figures in sport.
MSP conducted due diligence in a full Spurs takeover, but that ship now appears to have sailed.
The group, who are a major creditor to Everton and were also exploring a takeover of the Merseyside club before they entered into exclusive talks with Dan Friedkin, have ended their interest in Spurs.
Another powerful US group, Liberty Media, have also been linked with a possible deal.
The company, which owns the Formula One Group as well as a number of other sports and media assets, already have a partnership with Spurs through a commercial partnership.
The group’s CEO Gregg Maffai had confirmed that Liberty had explored buying a Premier League club ut stopped short of confirming that Spurs were among their targets.
Moving away from US private equity, Levy is known to be close with Nasser Al-Khealifi, the Qatari dignitary who is president of Paris Saint-Germain and the European Club Association.
His Qatar Sports Investment Authority has also been linked with a deal, although this has been denied in some quarters despite reports that the two supremos had met for face-to-face talks.
Lastly, and perhaps a little outlandishly, the rapper Jay-Z was linked by US media with a deal.
The 54-year-old is an enormously successful businessman commanding assets of around £2bn and he has previously expressed an interest in buying Arsenal, so his reported interest is not to be sniffed at.