Former Newcastle United supremo Amanda Staveley went public with her interest in Tottenham several weeks ago, but there has been little in the way of official updates until recently.
Staveley was the public face of the Saudi-finance consortium that bought Newcastle United for £305m in October 2021, but she has been forced to abandon her stake and seat on the board at St James’ Park.
Daniel Levy, the divisive chairman and co-owner of Tottenham confirmed in April that the club was seeking to expand its capital base to invest in the playing squad and fund infrastructure projects.
Staveley has been linked with investing £500m in Tottenham in exchange for a minority stake.
Significantly, Spurs value themselves at around £3.75bn, so any Staveley-led investment would not herald a major ownership change behind the scenes.
And the latest news may in fact come as bad news for any Spurs fans hoping to see the Middle East financier buy into the club.
While Staveley’s appearance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the weekend set the rumour mill off again, it has not been a good week of PR for the former Newcastle director.
For one, it emerged that her investment firm PCP Capital Partners, which was the vehicle through which she was reportedly interested in buying into Spurs, has been liquidated.
And in a new official update filed with Companies House, a second Staveley-owned company through which she previously owned her stake in Newcastle has now also been liquidated.
Curiously, that winding up petition came just a week after the company, formerly called Cantervale, changed its name to Redstart Leisure Limited.
What does Staveley’s company’s liquidation mean for her Spurs investment vision?
It should be noted that Staveley was never likely to use her personal fortune to invest in Spurs, so the insolvency of her companies is not a death knell for her part-takeover of the North London club.
Rather, Staveley would likely play a similar role as she has previously done at Man City and Newcastle, whereby she acts as the public face for a faction of Middle East investors who provide the capital.
Staveley has had a number of financial and legal issues in recent months and years, but they did not prevent her from taking a seat on the board at Newcastle, as well as a minority stake in the club.
She could also borrow from a Middle East-backed consortium to take an equity stake alongside them in N17, just as she did at St James’ Park three years ago.