Tottenham Hotspur announced on Tuesday afternoon that they have agreed a £150 million capital increase from majority shareholder ENIC.
Club announcement – Tottenham Hotspur Limited agrees a £150m capital increase.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 24, 2022
In effect, this is Spurs’ owners putting £150 million into the club’s bank account in what is a major show of strength ahead of the summer transfer window opening. It’s the owners’ first cash injection since 2004.
Thanks to The Athletic who breaks down the key questions arising from Spurs’ announcement
What does Tottenham Hotspur’s £150m capital increase mean?
This is a very significant moment in the modern history of Tottenham Hotspur: ENIC has made a £150 million equity injection into the club, essentially writing them a cheque for that amount. In very simple terms: Spurs have issued another £150 million of shares, which ENIC will buy.
This is a huge break from how Tottenham have operated throughout the ENIC era, which started when it bought Alan Sugar’s stake in 2000.Throughout that time, Spurs are proud of the fact they have operated on a strict profit and loss basis — with no big benefactor injections — and always staying within FFP guidelines. They have had to compete with Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea and Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City, as well as building their £1.2 billion new stadium, without that level of external help. So this is a serious change in direction in terms of the funding of the club.
Tottenham Hotspur’s £150m capital increase. (Image: Getty)
The last time Tottenham did any sort of fundraising like this was even before they de-listed from the stock exchange in 2012. It was all the way back in January 2004, when Daniel Levy and ENIC raised £15 million through a share issue, with Levy stating the club needed more investment to sign better players. A weeks later, Spurs bought Jermain Defoe from West Ham United for £7 million.
So is this good news for Tottenham?
Out of the Big Six, Tottenham always have the smallest wage bill and they don’t splurge on transfers (often recouping as much as they spend). Most of their spending over the last decade has been on infrastructure, principally the new training ground and stadium, and that doesn’t count towards a club’s outlay under FFP rules.
This is a huge commitment from ENIC, which has just given Spurs considerably more financial muscle, and with no tax or borrowing implication.
Why is the money given out?
The feeling that Spurs one of their biggest assets Antonio Conte will walk if he’s not given assurance to bring couple of players in the summer, And that with only a couple of years left of peak Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, now is the time to try to capitalise on their advantages, relative to their domestic rivals, and nail down a place on Europe’s top table.
- 🗣 Antonio Conte says he is very happy with achieving top four at Tottenham and will sit down with the club to discuss his future.
As The Athletic reported on Monday, Spurs’ intention when they sit down with Conte this week to discuss his future is to inform him of their plan to back him substantially in this summer’s transfer market. They will pledge to try to sign at least half a dozen new players, and that will include more experienced, established names.
Will the Tottenham Hotspur’s £150m capital increase actually be spent on players?
This is the £150 million question, and the expectation is that the answer will be: Yes.
On the topic of bringing in new players, Levy says in the press release that: “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.
It is worth saying, though, that Spurs have substantial payments to make this summer already on players such as Cristian Romero, and will also have a decision to make on whether to pay to make Dejan Kulusevski’s loan deal permanent now or wait until next summer to do that.