Levy's £40m Enic bid backed by board

Daniel Levy, the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, moved to tighten his grip on the Premiership football club yesterday by launching a recommended £40.3m bid to take its biggest shareholder, Enic, private.

Mr Levy, who speaks for more than half of Enic's shares, plans to retain the company's 29.8 per cent holding in Spurs, which it acquired two years ago. However, in the event of a bid for the north London club in the next 18 months, Mr Levy has pledged to pass some of the proceeds from a deal on to Enic's shareholders.

Stephen Davidson, Enic's chairman, said the company's independent directors felt the offer allowed shareholders to cash in their investment at a "fair and reasonable price and at a time when prospective investment in the football sector carries a high degree of risk".

Enic, which yesterday revealed it had plunged into the red, has focused on football since turning its back on the gaming and entertainment sectors. The group also has stakes in Glasgow Rangers, AEK Athens, FC Basel, Slavia Prague and Vicenza.

Mr Levy, who teamed up with Charlie Lewis, the son of the Bahamas-based financier Joe Lewis, to make the 40p-a-share offer, has received acceptances for just under 52 per cent of Enic's stock. The offer is 60 per cent higher than Enic's share price the day before it revealed it was in takeover talks. Enic's shares hit a peak of 382.5 in early 2000, at the height of the stock market boom. "This offer presents shareholders with a good opportunity to realise their investment for cash, with certainty," Mr Levy said.

Commenting as he unveiled Enic's interim results, Mr Davidson blamed lower-than-expected sponsorship, merchandising and broadcasting revenues for the group's pre-tax loss of £9.4m. This compared with a profit of £1m the previous year. Turnover fell 70 per cent to £4.8m.