Enic are buying out Sir Alan Sugar's shares for £25m, they have to (by law) offer the shares to the public - as it's a PLC company - but it's up to people if they take up the offer. Enic will then own 75% of the company, they can then delist from the stock exchange. If they get to own 90% they can forcibly take the remaining 10%. The share price had been going up and up, to 130p per share earlier today but within minutes it's gone down to 113p per share. What it means is that Enic are looking to sell. A company you own completely is much more attractive to potential buyers than one you own 51% of and have to chase up the remaining shares. I'll find a link in a minute, there's a huge press release which I don't want to copy and paste. It's long and boring.
Or that Enic and Levy want to takeover the company so that it is no longer a potential takeover target. I think this is potentially good news, the only caveat being that Sugar sold his shares under current value.
I got the figures slightly wrong, here's what it will be. http://www.advfn.com/news_Offer-for-Tottenham-Hotspur_20951088.html There's the link for the first piece. I still think they are looking to takeover in order to sell.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKWLA983820070607?feedType=RSS http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/stockexchangeannouncement.html
I'm not sure they're looking to takeover completely, just trying to buy as much of the club as possible on the cheap now as the shareprice is only getting higher and that will only continue with the way we are going and all the prospective buyers sniffing around football. I would be inclined to agree that this is to give them more income from a potential sale though, they already had a controlling interest which would prevent anyone else taking over, so buying this many additional shares must be with a view to cashing in later. Either way it's good for us. ENIC have done well so a more secure holding for them is good for us in the short term. And if they do sell it will be to someone with deeper pockets, and I doubt after all their good work in improving the club they will sell to someone who is less than interested in pushing us on further.
I can't say that I'm excited about this news. While I have absolutely no qualms about ENIC, it is rather saddening to see Sugar step out of the picture. He had a good heart and put his money into Spurs, regardless of what the results were. Oddly, I am extremely pleased with ENIC's ownership, which is why I don't like them buying more shares ... because it does look like they're planning an exit strategy. I don't want them to leave. Hopefully, if they do sell, whomever buys them will have the vision to keep Levy running the show. While I didn't expect to be saying this, he is really the reason we're where we are now. He researched and implemented the system. He hand-picked the people, particularly Arnesen who brought in Jol (and Santini because he had to do so). His regime brought in Carrick, Lennon, Robinson, Dawson, Chimbonda, Zokora and Berbatov among others. He's made us financially solid, with a modest wage bill, and we're turning a profit in the transfer market. He's built a strongly British team that's loaded with talent and is the youngest in the Premiership. I'm just not sure how it's possible to do better from a standpoint of setting the club up to succeed in the long term. And on top of that, the results have been outstanding--by far the best results since the formation of the Premiership. And, we're poised to challenge for a Champions League spot every season now. On top of that, our squad morale couldn't possibly be better. Kudos in every department for Levy. So, while I'm extremely pleased with ENIC ... I don't want them to exit, and I'm a little concerned with this move. -Digital
Maybe Alan Sugar just wanted to insure he could retire in comfort. I can't imagine that a group coming in to buy Spurs for like $400 million-ish without planning/approval for a new stadium well in the works. If they are building up Spurs for a take over then its a couple seasons away I feel.
There are two sides to this, IMO. The first is Sugar leaving, and the other is ENIC buying all his shares. It does bother me that Sugar is leaving. It seems he has been at Spurs as long as I have been a supporter (since the early 90s). Despite any ups or downs, he has maintained a fairly level head and this has meant a good deal of stability for the club. So, it worries me that he is getting out. But... ...As for ENIC buying all his shares, I'm actually looking at this as a good thing. Glazer made a hostile takeover of ManU, and then took them private (to make more money?) Recent purchases and maybes are the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Ham, Man City, etc. ENIC will be in a more favorable position to prevent any unsolicited bids by having more stock and possibly taking the club private. I'm actually looking at this as ENIC thinking that it will be easier to build a new stadium (I don't know British law, so this may be misguided thought). But, as long as Levy stays on, I'm happy with this move.
ok, so this is either good ... or bad. i won't pretend to know which, but i'm kind of with tron, here. things are going well, and i think the club needs stability. not the most reasoned response, perhaps, but i just don't relish a shakeup. or maybe i'm just a pessimist, in which case, i'm more with colm.
I am all for ENIC owning 100% or as much as they can anyway. Minor shareholders with votes becomes a pain when you want to do something; either their votes make no difference so there is no point to them or they are concerned about their small investment that they can veto any small risk. Which is very understandable. But with regards to getting things done I believe that 1 group being in charge would work a lot better, as long as they know what they are doing. And as they have all their eggs in this particular basket you would bloody well hope so!! Just have to wait and see what this means for the future of the club, if it is selling up to a new investor then we have to hope they don't have deep pockets but short arms! Otherwise we might as well have stuck with ENIC!
Sugar is actually a Spurs fan, isn't he? He will probably watch most games still I assume despite not owning the club anymore? Or didn't he turn up since ENIC bought into Spurs?
i think he's a bit like david pleat. i mean, yes, you can say "he's spurs through-and-through", and that gives him a bit of deserved yid credential - but he's got no business running a football club. so, yes, i appreciate that they, like me, want what's best for the club. i've just never been sure that they've recognized their respective roles in that.
Source: Daily Mail (our unofficial mouthpiece) Daniel Levy is set to buck the current trend of selling the Premiership's top clubs to foreign investors by keeping Tottenham under English control. The Spurs chairman last week strengthened his grip on the White Hart Lane club when ENIC bought Alan Sugar's shares. And Levy is determined to move into a position where it is impossible to come under threat from a hostile bid in the way Arsenal were put on alert when Colorado magnate Stan Kroenke began snapping up shares. Levy has done a sterling job in N17 since taking over Sugar at the turn of the decade. He has backed successive managers with cash and the club's policy of buying up the best young domestic talent allied with some shrewd moves in the overseas transfer market are paying rich dividends. Tottenham are threatening to break into the top four next season and are front-runners in the cup competitions while attracting sell-out crowds to their home ground. There is a 30,000 waiting list to become season ticket holders and the general mood among supporters is of pride combined with realistic expectancy. Tottenham have bought up property surrounding White Hart Lane and the next move will be to extend the capacity of their 36,000-seat home as developments on the pitch move in the right direction.
What way will they extend it though? Towards Edmonton Green? Towards Seven Sisters? Towards the astro pitches, or towards the VIP car park? Can't see which is best because it's all so clogged round there...
You obviously know the lay of the land better than I ever might. I'm just glad I can navigate there without begging people for directions at this point . But from what I understand, they have bought almost all of the land around WHL, including something the people who are more intimate with the area call an industrial park? There was once talk of turning the ground 90 degrees, which Levy has said won't happen. Either way, the census among the Yids at one of the London boards I frequent is that they have everything in place to expand (won't solve the transit issue) but to do so means moving to another ground for 2 years, and that seems a big sticking point. Wembley seems to want extortion for use. Obviously the two of us could never consider it (and even beyond infuriating both sets of fans, how could your ground survive what would now be 60+ games now that we are showing ambition again). Same goes for the Bridge and Upton. If they can work that out, it seems imminent. That my 2 cents, but probably a local fan could provide a much better synopsis that what I have said.
I knew the club had acquired a lot of land around WHL, but I was unaware that they had successfully acquired all the land they needed to make a major expansion happen ... that's great news to me. I don't have the answer, but I think we could find a place to play for a reasonable price for 2 years if that's all it would take to rebuild WHL. It's a shame Wembley wouldn't work out, but honestly, that's their loss as much as ours. With all those sunk costs you'd think they'd want a team with 6 England players playing there regularly for a couple of years. (Robinson, King, Lennon, Defoe, sometimes Jenas and potentially Dawson). Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would only leave the transit link issue as the real thing preventing it from happening, right? Wasn't the talk about the Seven Sisters line a while back? I'm not saying that's all, but I seem to recall a lot of talk about it at least. Hopefully Danners chimes in on this one. -Digital
Better explain what I meant by the directions... Aerial view of White Hart Lane Directions I was on about
Thanks for the aerials. I can't see them going towards SS because that is all housing. And they could expand towards the Road as they own all of that, but how much would that really add? Is the area towards Edmonton, the industrial area possibly? Can't tell just from this. But the area towards Astro seems the most logical becuase it's the least dense, but I know I have heard DL say that moving the pitch 90 degrees wasn't possible. And where is the infamous titty bar that held them ransom for so long? This leaves me with more questions than answers......it's like watching Lost.
When Spurs were suggesting building a stadium at Pickett's Lock, they mentioned to London Underground that they could have a branch of the Victoria Line, which extended to Northumberland Park to serve the new stadium. They agreed this was feasible, but in terms of tubes going actually up to White Hart Lane they had a feasibility study a while ago and they agreed this would not be possible - all they could do was persuade WAGN (or ONE Railway as it is now) to put on a more frequent shuttle service from Silver Street or White Hart Lane stations to Seven Sisters so people could get on the tube from there. You are right though, the transport is proving a major sticking point in getting the ground expanded.
just wondering.. how much is a share for spurs stock anyways? if i had the money, i would love to buy some just for the sake of it.
