It has been claimed that the former Tottenham Hotspur chairman has signed an agreement to sell his stake in the club's owners
Eight Sports Capital Limited have claimed that Daniel Levy has agreed to sell a large portion of his stake in ENIC, the company that owns Tottenham Hotspur, to them.
Levy was chairman of Spurs for 24 years before being ousted in September last year by the Lewis family, who own the majority of ENIC. The investment company purchased a controlling stake in the Premier League club in 2001 from Sir Alan Sugar and at that point Levy became chairman.
However after last year's exit for the long serving club head, the current generation of the Lewis family have become more prominent in backing the Lilywhites with CEO Vinai Venkatesham and non-executive chairman Peter Charrington running things.
Then on Friday, British Virgin Islands-based company Eight Sports Capital released a statement to the media, including football.london, claiming that they will own a portion of ENIC and therefore Tottenham Hotspur once an agreed and legally binding sale and purchase agreement with Levy is formally consumated.
Eight Sports Capital is spearheaded by two leading forces involved in two of the three rejected Spurs takeover bids last year. One is Wing-Fai Ng, the CEO of American entertainment company Triller, which owns Eight Sports. The other is tech entrepreneur Brooklyn Earick, who is the CEO of Eight Sports.
There is a third new person involved and that is Taiwanese billionaire Richard Tsai, who also owns Triller as well as Fubon Financial Holding Company, one of the largest financial conglomerates in Asia.
The move from Eight Sports Capital, which is yet to be officially confirmed, is said to be for 24.99% of ENIC. The former chairman, through a family trust, owns 29.8% of the share capital of ENIC. Any such sale would mean the newcomers owning a stake in Spurs but without any decision-making powers or a seat on the board of ENIC. The Lewis family have repeatedly stated that they have no interest in selling the Premier League club.
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The statement read: "Eight Sports Capital Limited today announces the signing of a sale and purchase agreement to acquire a 24.99% interest in ENIC Sports and Developments Holdings Limited (“ENIC”), the parent company of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
"The transaction is structured through the acquisition from Oakchester Limited of the entire issued share capital of Walburg Holdings Limited and Larkin Ltd pursuant to the sale and purchase agreement. The target companies together beneficially hold 24.99% of the issued ordinary share capital of ENIC. Oakchester Limited is owned by Whitmill Trust Company (Gibraltar) Limited, acting as trustee of The Levy Children’s Trust and The Walburg Discretionary Trust, which are family trusts established for the benefit of Daniel Levy’s children."
A spokesperson for Eight Sports Capital Limited added: "We are delighted to have signed this agreement to acquire a significant stake in ENIC. We look forward to working with the club’s shareholders, management, staff, players and fans to support Tottenham Hotspur’s continued growth and success."
The statement continued that "the parties have agreed that no further public comment will be made regarding the commercial terms of the transaction".