Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, Duncan Castles has shared what he knows about the recent reported takeover bid at Tottenham.
Castles broke this story in the Daily Record on Friday afternoon, and now he’s taken to his podcast to add more detail to what’s happened and why Spurs have rejected the offer.
Castles is led to believe that the offer was rejected, not due to the valuation of the club, but due to the fact that a sale to LAMF would have meant that Tottenham would have then been listed on the stock market.
What’s been said?
Castles shared what he knows about the takeover bid.
“This comes from a Los Angeles based NASDAQ listed Special Purpose Acquisition Company, a SPAC, called LAMF Global Ventures. They were floated on the NASDAQ stock market in November, raised over $250m in their initial public offering. It was an offering that was oversubscribed, so they’re confident they can raise substantial funds on top of that,” Castles said.
“It’s an interesting group of people behind them, the chairman Jeffery Soros is the nephew of billionaire George Soros, and they’re also using Keith Harris as a special advisor on football who has been involved in more takeovers of English football clubs that anyone else in the financial world.
“They want, I’m told, to buy an elite European club, preferably in the Premier League, ideally one of the big six. My understanding is that the principal target has always been Tottenham Hotspur because it’s been known that Daniel Levy and Joe Louis have built the club up in a way that it is ripe to be sold with the billion pound investment in the training ground and the stadium, the London location and getting close to winning the Premier League title.
“Keith Harris, I’m told, approached Daniel Levy recently, and presented LAMF’s interest in the club to the chairman. My understand is that he pitched the valuation at £3bn, in the hopes that Levy would be interesting in selling at that price or interested in selling a percentage of the shares at that price.
“Instead, I’m told Levy rebuffed them. Guidance from a club source is that he cut the conversation short and didn’t even engage on the price, he didn’t want to get involved in bargaining on the number.
“I’m told that was nothing to do with the figure or the valuation of the club, but because of their status as a SPAC and the need for Tottenham to go public if a transaction occurred with LAMF then the structure of the deal means that when they buy an asset like Tottenham it would be listed on the stock market, and Tottenham deliberately came off of the stock market in order to raise money to overhaul their stadium and training ground, and it’s in their interest to stay off the market.”
Watch this space
If LAMF are in the market for a top six Premier League club, then this may be a story to keep an eye on.
Arsenal’s owners have come under a lot of pressure to sell over the past 12 months, while there are also rumblings of discontent at Liverpool after the Super League debacle.
If LAMF have that sort of money to spend, then don’t be surprised if another big bid is launched in the coming months.
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