Iranian-American billionaire Jahm Najafi is set to launch a $3.75billion bid to buy Tottenham Hotspur.
The 59-year-old is interested in taking over at the north London club and is expected to make an offer, according to the Financial Times. Najafi, who is the chair of MSP Sports Capital, is working with a consortium of investors to structure the bid and is reportedly weeks away from launching a formal bid.
Najafi will then approach Tottenham owner Joe Lewis and the club's chair Daniel Levy over negotiating a deal, as per FT. They value the club's equity at approximately $3bn before adding about $750mn of debt on their books, which will put Tottenham as the ninth most valued football team in the world.
Who is Jahm Najafi?
The businessman is the partial owner and vice-chairman of NBA side Phoenix Suns and also runs Najafi Companies, which is his primary source of income. It is a private equity firm founded in 2002, located in Phoenix and the organisation makes investments in companies with transaction value up to $1bn.
Najafi was also announced as the next vice-chairman of F1 entity McLaren Racing in December 2020, with Bahrain investor Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa as the other VC in the organisation. However, he is more well-known for his role at Phoenix Suns and he has the second-largest stake in the club behind owner Robert Sarver.
There was a period of uncertainty at Suns in November, though, when Najafi joined many notable NBA personalities by calling for Sarver's ejection from the league. NBA suspended Sarver from all league activities and handed him a $10m fine following their recent investigation of workplace misconduct.
Sarver has since sold the company to United Wholesale Mortgage's CEO Mat Ishbia and his brother Justin for a record-high $4bn purchasing price. This could see Najafi move on, with the businessman supposedly very keen on taking over at Spurs with Levy and Lewis' future up in the air
What is his net worth?
Jahm Najafi has a net worth of around $3.5billion (£2.9bn), according to reports.
The structure of his Tottenham bid will mean 70% of the purchase price is put forward by his MSP group with other partners also recruited to finance the bid. It is reported the other 30% will be made up by Middle East backers.
Why could another Premier League takeover happen?
Tottenham fans have grown disgruntled in recent years over the lack of financial backing from Levy onto the playing squad despite spending over £150m in the last two transfer windows. But the Covid-19 pandemic is still taking its toll on Premier League clubs, meaning the likes of Spurs have less to spend.
Newcastle and Chelsea are among the teams to have taken advantage of this, too, with the pair being taken over by multi-billionaire owners in the past two years. A Saudi-led consortium took over at St James' Park in October 2021 and they have spent over £200m on players in that time, while Chelsea's US-led takeover has seen them splash out money that football has never seen before.
Spurs would become 11th Premier League club to have American-based owners should Najafi take over from Levy and Lewis in the coming months. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester United, and West Ham all currently have American owners.
