|
Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed the final details of the £750 million funding plan for their new stadium after announcing an agreement with three banks. A new £400m facility with Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC will replace an interim £200m facility put in place in December 2015, of which £100m has been drawn to date, Spurs said on Wednesday. Matthew Collecott, the club's director of finance and operations said in a statement: "We are delighted to have three of the most prestigious and globally recognised banks supporting us." Spurs' new stadium, a 61,500-seater ground for football and NFL, is under construction alongside the demolition of their former White Hart Lane home. The ground is expected to be ready for the start of the 2018-19 season. Spurs have already spent £340m on planning, the acquisition of land, legal challenges and work on the stadium so far, and the remaining cost of the project will be funded by the new bank facility and the club, which is controlled by ENIC, owned by billionaire Joe Lewis and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. HSBC is also providing an additional £25m working capital facility, while ENIC has provided a £50m contingency facility to ensure the project is fully funded through to completion. Levy has previously said Spurs are running two businesses -- the football side and the new stadium -- and Collecott said: "This is not going to touch the football. These are very separate budgets." He added that he expected matchday revenue to double to around £100m, according to Bloomberg, and added that Britain's vote to leave the European Union was one of the factors that had increased the cost of the project. Spurs are in talks with a number of companies over a naming rights deal, while sources have told ESPN FC that the NFL has contributed £10m so far towards the cost of tailoring the stadium to host American football.
|
