Sources: Joe Lewis lines up Tottenham sale after 50% buyer found
Joe Lewis has been lining up a Tottenham sale behind the scenes and a 50 per cent buyer of the club was found at the end of last year, financial sources have told Football Insider.
The billionaire longstanding Spurs owner has sanctioned brokers to find and assess potential buyers or investors in the club.
A deal was on the table at the end 2020 for a 50 per cent sale of the club in a deal worth £800million.
It would have seen Lewis-owned investment group ENIC maintain a 50 per cent stake in Tottenham and valued the club at £1.6billion.
However, the deal eventually fell through due to reasons that left those involved very frustrated.
It is the latest false start behind the scenes, where rumours of potential takeovers have emerged at various points in recent years.
Sources have explained that Lewis, 84, is actively looking for a buyer for the club he has owned through ENIC since a 2001 acquisition from Alan Sugar.
Chairman Daniel Levy is the public face of the ownership and has run it on Lewis' behalf during those 20 years as well as having a personal 29.4 per cent stake in ENIC.
The investment vehicle is, in turn, part of the Bahamas-based private investment organisation Tavistock Group run by Lewis.
The octogenarian is ranked by Forbes as the 574th richest individual in the world with a fortune of £3.6bn.
The business magazine earlier this week named Tottenham as the 10th richest club in the world and valued it at £1.7bn.
Levy said in March of last year at a meeting with the Tottenham Supporters' Trust that there was "no intention to sell and that no valuation had been made of the equity value" of the club.