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Tottenham Hotspur have "unequivocally rejected" an informal expression of interest from a consortium headed up by Brooklyn Earick looking to takeover the club in a £4.5bn deal.
football.london reported that the Lewis family, who own Spurs through the Tavistock Group, were adamant that the club was not for sale despite the latest talk and now that has been confirmed in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. Tech entrepreneur Earick, who failed this year in a bid to acquire Formula E team Maserati, is fronting a £3.3billion takeover bid from a 12-strong group including NFL and NBA investors, with a further £1.2billion set aside as transfer funds for head coach Thomas Frank.
However, the club have now released an official statement which reads: "The Board of Tottenham Hotspur Limited is aware of recent media speculation and confirms that its majority shareholder, ENIC Sports & Developments Holdings Ltd has received, and unequivocally rejected, an informal expression of interest in relation to a proposal to acquire the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of the Club from a consortium led by Mr Brooklyn Earick.
"The board of the Club and ENIC reconfirm that Tottenham Hotspur is not for sale and ENIC is not looking to sell its stake in the club."
The rules state that the consortium is now required, by not later than 5pm on October 24, to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Spurs or announce that it does not intend to do so. That deadline can be extended with the consent of the panel on takeovers and mergers.
The current reports come during a period of huge change at Spurs with the Lewis family major players in it all. Executive chairman Daniel Levy left after 24 years at the helm following an internal review pushed through by the family. Siblings Vivienne and Charles Lewis have been in the directors' box for the recent home matches against Villarreal and Doncaster Rovers in the Champions League and Carabao Cup respectively. Vivienne also accompanied the club on their summer tour to Asia.
Earlier this month an Asian consortium of investors led by Dr Roger Kennedy and Wing-Fai Ng through Firehawk Holdings Limited indicated an informal intention to make an offer for Spurs on the day Levy left his role. Amanda Staveley and PCP International Finance Ltd are also believed to have shown enough interest, without making an actual indication of a forthcoming bid, all of which triggered takeover panel rules on disclosure.
PCP later made it clear that they would not be making an offer and in a statement triggered by the takeover interest, Spurs confirmed at the time that ENIC had "received and unequivocally rejected separate preliminary expressions of interest" to acquire their entire stake in the club.
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