Tottenham are opting not to comment on a potential £3.1 billion takeover by Jahm Najafi, but who is the Iranian-American businessman?
Billionaire Najafi is a part-owner of NBA team Phoenix Suns and also heads up Najafi Companies, a private-equity firm also based in Arizona’s largest city.
Rumours of a Najafi bid for the purchase of Spurs from ENIC will come as a blow to the blue half of Merseyside, with US private-equity fund MSP Sports Capital, of which Najafi is chairperson, having previously been linked with the purchase of Everton.
The Master of Business Economics from Harvard began his career in Wall Street in the late-1980s, with commercial property his primary domain. In 2017 he became part-owner and vice chairman of the American basketball side Phoenix Suns — and he sits on the NBA board as a governor.
Najafi is clearly no stranger to investing in sports teams, and his MSP Sports Capital fund — who own various European football clubs including German side Augsburg — purchased a sizeable minority stake in McLaren Racing back in December 2020.
A prolific investor, Najafi purchased Direct Group in 2008, the parent company which owns Columbia Records’ umbrella brand Columbia House. In 2013 he was one of many potential buyers who bid to purchase the American daily newspaper The Boston Globe, but he did not succeed in acquiring the paper.
Najafi lives in Arizona with his wife Cheryl, a businesswoman and New York Times bestselling author. They have three children. His net worth was reported in 2021 as being £2.9 billion. MSP Sports Capital value Spurs at £2.6 billion and a potential bid would come 70 per cent from MSP’s own funding and 30 per cent from backers based largely in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Tottenham have been owned by Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy’s ENIC Group since 2001, with their current stake sitting at 85.55 per cent. Chairman Levy has come under pressure from the club’s fanbase in recent years for ENIC’s supposed limited investment in the club’s squad. However, 2019 saw the opening of the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which is widely regarded as one of the best football stadiums in the world.
Spurs last won a trophy in 2008, when they lifted the League Cup title, but have finished in the top six in the Premier League in six of the last seven seasons.
