Tottenham given green light for return to private ownership
Tottenham Hotspur’s shareholders on Tuesday approved the club’s delisting from the stock market as chairman Daniel Levy fired another shot in the war-of-words over London’s Olympic Stadium.
The Barclays Premier League club last month announced its proposal to return to private ownership in a bid to assist its funding plans for a new stadium. The North London club is currently listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with its intention to de-list being part of a new focus on the Northumberland Park development next to White Hart Lane following its defeat in the Olympic Stadium bid.
The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) was in October instructed to start a new process to secure tenants for the Olympic Stadium post-London 2012 after February’s original decision to award the stadium to West Ham United sparked legal challenges from Tottenham and third tier team Leyton Orient. Tottenham had sought a judicial review in the belief that a £40 million loan from Newham Council gave West Ham an unfair economic advantage and made the original decision unlawful. Speaking at Tuesday’s annual general meeting (AGM) Levy hinted that Tottenham was duped into bidding for the Olympic Stadium. “We were certainly encouraged to bid for the stadium, but knowing what we now know in terms of the government’s requirement to retain the (running) track, if we’d known that at the beginning we would not have bid,” said Levy, according to Reuters.
Tottenham reportedly needs to raise £300-£350 million to build the new 60,000-seat stadium at Northumberland Park, and Levy has previously stated borrowing money will be easier if the club is privately owned. The club’s AGM outlined that the earliest date Tottenham can be re-registered as a private limited company is January 17.
