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Tottenham Hotspur announced a £700M ($902.1M) plan to fund a new 61,500-seat stadium, according to Panja & Hellier of BLOOMBERG. Tottenham signed a £400M ($515.5M) "facility" with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings, the club said in a statement on Wednesday. That replaces an interim £200M deal that was put in place in Dec. '15, of which £100M ($128.9M) "has been drawn to date." The financing was arranged by Rothschild & Co. Tottenham Dir of Finance & Operations Matthew Collecott said, "We are delighted to have three of the most prestigious and globally recognized banks supporting us." The deal "paves the way for Tottenham to complete its move to the new stadium, the second-most expensive in the U.K. after Wembley." Collecott said that the club's matchday revenues will "probably more than double" to about £100M per season as a result of the move. The cost of the project will not affect the plans of Manager Mauricio Pochettino as he "seeks to strengthen the team and offer new deals to top performers." Collecott: "This is not going to touch the football, these are very separate budgets" (
BLOOMBERG, 5/31). ESPN.com's Dan Kilpatrick reported Tottenham has already spent £340M ($438.2M) on "planning, the acquisition of land, legal challenges and work on the stadium," and the remaining cost of the project will be funded by the new bank facility and the club, which is controlled by investment group ENIC, owned by billionaire Joe Lewis and Tottenham Chair Daniel Levy. HSBC is also providing an additional £25M ($32.2M) working capital facility, while ENIC provided a £50M ($64.4M) contingency facility to "ensure the project is fully funded" through completion (
ESPN.com, 5/31). REUTERS' Alasdair Reilly reported the financing is "secured by the new stadium and related commercial and match day revenues." The loan "pays a margin ranging from 225bp to 300bp over Libor." There are "no early repayment penalties or amortisation requirements and no material financial covenants until the stadium opens" (
REUTERS, 5/31).
