Tottenham’s £100m equity injection: What does it mean? Why now? More to come?

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Ever since Daniel Levy’s dismissal as Tottenham Hotspur chairman on September 4, public attention has turned to the question of the majority-shareholding Lewis family, and what exactly they want to do with the football club.

Over the course of the last month, most of the questions have concerned whether or not the Lewis family want to sell the club. They have been very consistent in saying that Tottenham is not for sale, amid high-profile expressions of interest from PCP International Finance Limited, a consortium known as ‘Firehawk Holdings’ and most recently American former DJ Brooklyn Earick. The enquiry from Earick was dismissed as “unsolicited and unnecessary interest” by a source close to the Lewis family who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships.

But there have been other questions from fans through this period. Namely, what exactly do the Lewis family intend to do with the club now that they have removed the man who ran it for them for 24 years? After plenty of positive and ambitious talk over the course of the last month, fans wanted to see a concrete sign of their ambition.

There had been talk for some time that investment was coming. When CEO Vinai Venkatesham sat down at the training ground to record an interview four days after Levy’s departure, he flagged the likelihood of money coming in. “I think it is very fair to say that we have firm backing from the Lewis family against our ambitions to be successful on the pitch, both on the men’s side and women’s side,” Venkatesham said. “They know that’s going to require investment, and we have their firm backing.”

And on Thursday morning, the club announced a £100m equity injection.

The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke and Chris Weatherspoon explain what it all means…

What has actually happened?

ENIC, the Bahamas-based investment group which, before this transaction, owned 86.91 per cent of Spurs, has provided £100million in new funding to the club. The sum has been provided to ENIC via the Lewis family trust which, again, before this transaction, owned 70.12 per cent of ENIC (and thus, beneficially, 60.94 per cent of Spurs).

That funding is in the form of capital (or shares), meaning Tottenham will not be adding to their existing debts. In essence, ENIC has provided new cash in exchange for shares, increasing its ownership stake in the club. Spurs don’t owe that money back; ENIC would only be able to recoup it via dividends, which Spurs don’t pay, or via an eventual sale of the club.

ENIC have paid £100million in exchange for 13.5m new shares in Tottenham Hotspur Limited. As a result, ENIC’s stake in Spurs has increased by 0.71 per cent to 87.62 per cent.

Chris Weatherspoon

What does this mean for Tottenham’s PSR position?

Spurs have had little to worry about from a profit and sustainability rules (PSR) position, as despite being loss-making, that loss is driven by roughly £70million annual cost of depreciating Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

That, among other things, can be added back in the club’s PSR calculation. The Athletic previously estimated Spurs could have lost as much as £277million in 2024-25 and still not have breached Premier League rules. Similarly, they are expected to have little trouble with UEFA rules this season.

This injection still strengthens their position. Cash from share issues comprises ‘secure funding’, which clubs need in order to exploit the maximum loss limit available to them (£105million in the Premier League).

Clubs can utilise up to £90m to increase that loss limit from the minimum £15m, and in the current three-year cycle to the end of this season, Spurs had only received that £35m last December. This injection, therefore, imbues them with the maximum loss limit, even if it’s one they won’t come close to hitting.

Any money coming into the club now was unlikely to form a kitty for Thomas Frank to delve into – and it is understood this £100m injection is not a new transfer war chest.

As detailed by The Athletic during an in-depth look at Spurs’ finances in April, the club entered the summer with a looming cash crunch, principally because of significant transfer debt. Spurs owed a net £279.3million on transfers at the end of last June, the highest figure in English (and probably world) football at the time.

This money is expected to help meet ongoing liabilities from them, as well as the £150m or so net spend of the summer just ended.

Chris Weatherspoon

Is this usual for Spurs and ENIC? Why are they doing it now?

Over the span of ENIC’s quarter-century involvement at Spurs, owner funding has been limited. This £100million injection comprises 39 per cent of the club’s total owner funding since 2001. In all, since ENIC took over, Spurs have received £257.1m from shareholders.

It is, however, more usual than it once would have been. ENIC injected £97.5million in May 2022, a significant departure from the past. Now, a further £135m has been provided in the past 10 months. ENIC’s funding of Spurs in the last three and a half years, at £232.5m, is almost 10 times the amount provided in their previous 21 years at the helm.

Spurs’ need for cash was clear before this summer. Significant transfer spending, combined with the costs of servicing a billion-pound-plus stadium (which would be even higher had the club not locked in impressively low interest rates) and the loss of Champions League revenue, had left Spurs’ bank balance squeezed. The club needed cash from somewhere, particularly as they continued to spend this summer. Champions League money will help but comes in across the season, and is determined by how far Spurs progress.

That cash requirement was underlined further in late August when Spurs ‘factored’ their Premier League prize money for this season. The club received a chunk of cash upfront from lender Macquarie, with the latter then getting the money in return once Spurs receive it from the league. Spurs will pass on to Macquarie more than they initially loaned; the difference is effectively an interest payment.

The specifics of that arrangement are unknown, though Bloomberg reported the total brought forward was £90million. If correct, it means Spurs have received a shade under £200m in new cash into the coffers in the past six weeks.

The £100million provided this week was not needed to meet immediate liabilities, but it will help Spurs fund future commitments without adding to a debt stack which, after the Macquarie arrangement, was already nearing £1billion.

Chris Weatherspoon

Does this impact Daniel Levy? And could it impact any club sale?

The announcement of the £100million capital injection stated upfront that the money had come via the Lewis family trust. In doing so, it made clear that none of this new money has been provided by trusts associated with Levy. Those own, or owned, 29.88 per cent of ENIC and, beneficially, 25.97 per cent of Spurs.

Spurs have updated the section of their website which details the club’s ownership structure, reflecting how ENIC’s stake now sits at 87.62 per cent, as we outlined earlier. However the section detailing the split of ENIC ownership — 70.12 per cent to the Lewis family trust, 29.88 per cent to Levy’s — is unchanged.

ENIC being incorporated in the Bahamas means the business is surrounded in opacity, so the above is the only sight we get of who owns what. Those share splits remaining the same as before would suggest this injection was provided to ENIC in a non-dilutive fashion, and that the Lewis family injecting £100million has not come in exchange for a greater shareholding.

Accordingly, that would mean the beneficial holding of the Levy family trusts has actually gone up, even as all of this new funding has come from elsewhere. Their beneficial ownership of Spurs now sits at 26.18 per cent. That probably obscures the substance of the matter though; hypothetically, if the Lewis family trust has loaned £100million to ENIC, they’ll likely get that back before any other future distributions to shareholders are made, be those from the proceeds of a sale or otherwise.

The Lewis family has insisted the club is not for sale, and their injecting a nine-figure sum into Spurs — again, largely out of keeping with past activity — would seem to underscore that position. Pouring £100million into a club you’re about to sell doesn’t feel too logical.

Yet there are wider factors to consider. One is Spurs’ debt, which, while manageable, still makes them one of the most heavily indebted clubs in world football. Adding new cash via more lending would have imposed further strain on costs, potentially weakening shareholders’ hands in any future sale negotiations.

Those are, the Lewis family insists, not active discussions right now. But this share issue, amid recent speculation and Levy’s departure as chairman last month, represents another notable moment at the top of the club.

Chris Weatherspoon

Will this just be a one-off or could there be more to come…?

Many fans will be wondering whether this is just a one-off occurrence or whether Tottenham will be truly entering a new era in terms of their ambitions and how they are funded.

A source close to the Lewis family told The Athletic on Thursday morning that this was just the start, describing this £100m injection as “initial additional funding”. The source added that as Tottenham’s management “decides what’s needed to deliver success, more money will be available”.

This raises the prospect of more such injections in the future, or potentially even a new model for how the club is funded. It is no secret that over the last 20 years, Tottenham have taken on hundreds of millions of pounds of debt. At the end of June 2024, the club was carrying £851.5m in assorted loans, with a gross debt of £872.1m. Over the 2023-24 season, they paid almost £30m in interest payments to service the debt. Then came the factoring agreement with Macquarie in August, itself another form of lending.

Now there is a desire at the club to move towards a model that is less reliant on debt funding. Which could be one of the most important parts of a ‘new era’ at Spurs.

Jack Pitt-Brooke