An offer of £3billion should see Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis sprinting off into the sunset, believes Simon Jordan.
A bombshell report emerged in the Financial Times on Wednesday in which it was claimed that Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi is readying a £3bn offer in the coming weeks.
TalkSPORT pundit Jordan, who will launch his first column with Sportsmail at 6pm on Wednesday, described the FT report as ‘significant’ and the price at a point which should see owner Lewis and chairman Levy ‘bite [investors] arms off at the shoulder.’
‘At £3billion? Bite their arm off at the shoulder, absolutely,’ Jordan said on talkSPORT’s ‘White and Jordan’ show.
‘Depends how much debt they’re going to take and it depends how much the stadium plays into this and what the whole shape of the deal is. But if Lewis gets to walk away and Daniel [Levy] gets to walk away with £3billion, I should imagine they’ll sprint.’
Simon Jordan has given his take on news of a potential £3billion takeover offer for Tottenham
Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi (left) is reportedly considering a £3.1billion offer
The reported bid is set to be factored so that Najafi and MSP Sports Capital – of which Najafi is chair of – would put forward 70 per cent of the capital, while others would contribute the remaining 30 per cent – with these backers likely to come from the Gulf, and particularly Abu Dhabi.
A £3.1bn bid for the club consists of the club’s equity being valued at approximately £2.5bn, before adding about £610m of the club’s current debts.
‘This is a long way from anything that is going to move past significant initial discussions, and again it’s a deal that’s going to be structured with private equity and funding,’ Jordan added.
‘It’s not going to be philanthropic, it’s not going to be a nation state dropping in and saying “we just don’t care, we’re going to spend money for how we feel like, we’re going to set the heather on fire”.
‘But it is a significant situation for Tottenham. Of course Tottenham fans will light on it “anyone but Levy”.’
Fans have been left divided by the reports and Sportsmail understands it would take an offer far greater than £3bn to have Levy and Lewis seriously contemplating a sale.
ENIC – the controlling owner of Spurs – is hugely unpopular with large sections of Tottenham’s fanbase.
The investment group is connected to Lewis and Levy after they purchased a 26 per cent stake in the club from Lord Alan Sugar for £21.9m back in 2000. That has since risen to 85.5 per cent.
Their time in charge of the club has been praised for the development of a new stadium, efficient financial management and Spurs regularly qualifying for the Champions League and finishing in the top echelons of the Premier League.
However, with the club’s last title being a League Cup in 2008, Spurs fans have become increasingly frustrated at what they perceive is a lack of ambition from the ownership and there have been increasing protests against the club’s hierarchy in recent times.
Levy is the face of the club, with Lewis a silent owner based out in the Bahamas.
Jordan believes silent owner Joe Lewis (left) and Daniel Levy (right) should ‘sprint’ at that price
Najafi – pictured above with his wife Cheryl – has had involvement in both NBA and Formula 1
MSP – an investment group that Najafi co-founded and is now chairman of – considered investing in Everton and Najafi (circled) attended their match vs Southampton last month
Najafi, 60, is CEO and owner of Najafi Companies, a private investment and equity firm that has involvements in sports, media, technology, consumer and real estate throughout the world.
They tend to invest in lower-profile or fast-changing sectors and are highly-selective on what companies they put their money into.
He has a stake in the McLaren F1 team, after he invested in collaboration with MSP and UBS O’Connor LLC.
They originally invested $248.5m which gave them a 15 per cent shareholding, which had since increased to 33 per cent by the end of 2022 and he is now vice-chairman of McLaren Racing.
Back in 2021, Najafi’s net worth was valued at $3.5bn (£2.9bn).
Sportsmail understands that Spurs are not the only club Najafi is interested in buying or has looked into buying – and that he is and has considered investing at another Premier League team too.
Najafi was even photographed at Everton’s Goodison Park stadium for last month’s game against Southampton, amid reports of a bid being considered from MSP.
It was a notable appearance given the fact that Everton’s board of directors had been advised to stay away owing to threats to their security.
If a deal with Najafi was to go through it would mean that Spurs would become the 11th Premier League team currently owned by an American, joining Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester United, and West Ham, who have Albert Smith as a minority shareholder.
Source: dailymail
