AMERICAN entertainment giants AEG are moving closer to a £450 million takeover Tottenham.
AEG owner Philip Anschutz, the 34th richest man in the USA with a personal wealth of more than £4.4 billion, has been in talks with Spurs’ Bahamas-based owner Joe Lewis for weeks.
The pair are close to concluding a deal and Anschutz wants to keep current chairman Daniel Levy in place at White Hart Lane as his man on the ground at the north London club.
The agreement would inject new funds into Tottenham’s coffers and make it harder still for bitter rivals Arsenal to compete for the Champions League places, with Chelsea and the Manchester clubs blocking their path. Spurs formed close links with the AEG group last year as they put together a bid to buy the Olympic Stadium as a new home.
But now Anschutz, a close friend of Lewis, is interested in buying the club itself.
Spurs delisted from the Stock Exchange in January in a move Levy declared at the time was necessary to secure funding. And last September they were granted planning permission for a new 56,000-seat ground at Northumberland Park.
Lewis, 75, who owns about 30 per cent of Spurs through his company ENIC, of which Levy is also chairman, has been keen to loosen his ties with the club for some time and at last it looks as if the right buyer may have come along.
The reclusive Anschutz has a close interest in football, having been a major investor in the early days of Major League Soccer in the USA. Through his Anschutz Entertainment Group he, at one point, owned the Colorado Rapids, Chicago Fire and the San Jose Earthquakes.
Anschutz currently owns LA Galaxy and played a key role in taking David Beckham to the club in 2007, as well as a majority stake in Houston Dynamo, plus several basketball and ice hockey clubs.
AEG still own the O2 Arena in London and Manchester’s MEN Arena, as well as other major sporting venues.
