Qatar Sports Investments ready to revive Tottenham interest but cool on West Ham
Qatar Sports Investments, the owner of French champions Paris Saint-Germain, is ready to revive its interest in buying a minority shareholding in Tottenham Hotspur but is not thought to be in the market for a stake in West Ham United.
Vanessa Gold, the daughter of late West Ham co-chairman David Gold, announced this week that she was open to selling some of the family’s 25 per cent share in the Europa Conference League champions.
While QSI has previously looked at the English top-flight for potential additions to a multi-club network that also includes Braga in Portugal, sources close to Qatar said no talks had taken place over an investment in West Ham and played down any interest in a deal.
Tottenham remain a target, they added, despite QSI’s previous interest in buying a minority stake in the current Premier League leaders coming to nothing earlier this year.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has since floated the idea of selling a shareholding in the club, which he part-owns through his shareholding in Enic. The investment company founded by British billionaire Joe Lewis owns 87 per cent of the club, while Levy and his family hold almost 30 per cent of the shares in Enic.
“I’ve got no real interest to leave Tottenham, but I have a duty to consider anything that anyone may want to propose,” Levy told Bloomberg in September.
“We run this club as if it’s a public company. If anyone wants to make a serious proposition to the board of Tottenham we would consider it, along with our advisers, and if we felt it was in the interests of the club we would be open to anything.”
Lewis’ arrest in the US on insider trading charges this year has added to uncertainty around Tottenham’s long-term ownership, despite the club distancing themselves from him. They reiterated in June that Enic’s majority owner was no longer Lewis but a trust belonging to his family and of which the 86-year-old was not a beneficiary.
QSI chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi reportedly held talks with Levy during the Qatar World Cup last year, although Tottenham denied the meeting. While Levy and Enic have previously priced Spurs out of a deal, there is a feeling that current conditions could prove more conducive to agreeing a price.
PSG’s owner is understood to be looking at a number of European clubs while also finalising the sale of a minority stake in the French club amid booming interest from US investors, a deal which could be completed before the end of the year.