The Premier League club, Tottenham Hotspur have announced that they have been bolstered following the announcement of a £150 million (€175 million) capital injection from owner ENIC.
The funding, in the form of extraordinary shares to ENIC, will offer the Lilywhites’ manager Antonio Conte additional funds for the summer transfer market. As the club finished fourth in the Premier League to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stages for the first time since the 2019-20 season, this advancement has been made to make the team solid going forward.
A club statement said, “The equity injection provides the Premier League Club with greater financial flexibility and the ability to further invest on and off the pitch. The investment represents permanent capital, with no ongoing interest cost to the Club, and which may be drawn in tranches until the end of the year. The Club’s independent directors have benefited from its majority shareholder’s ability to invest directly, swiftly and without the extensive due diligence and documentation involved in third-party funding.“
ENIC has always been the largest shareholder of Tottenham since 2001, and the stock dividend will increase its ownership of the club from 85.6 per cent to 87.5 per cent upon conversion.
Daniel Levy and his family own 29.4 per cent of ENIC International Limited, while Joe Lewis, a Bahamas-based investor, owns 70.6 per cent.
Tottenham reported pre-tax losses of more than £80 million for the fiscal year ending June 2021, up from £67.7 million the previous year, whereas its net debt increased to more than £700 million.
Enic loaned £637 million to support the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which opened in 2019 with a seating capacity of nearly 63,000 people. With the stadium hosting the National Football League (NFL), boxing, and rugby union events, the new arena has permitted the club to raise revenue from both football and non-football related events. This summer will feature performances by global artists Lady Gaga and Guns N’ Roses.
Chairman Daniel Levy, said, “The delivery of a world-class home was always a key building block in driving diversified revenues to enable us to invest in the teams and support our ambitions to be consistently competing at the highest levels of European football. Additional capital from ENIC will now enable further investment in the Club at an important time.’’