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ENIC

The Business

ENIC owner, Joe Lewis is believed to have paid £1.4m in 2001 to play a round of golf with world number one Tiger Woods. Lewis is believed to be close to Dermot Desmond, the Irish financier who is the largest single shareholder in Celtic. He is also understood to be associated with John Magnier and JP McManus, the Irish billionaires who doubled their stake in Manchester United to just under 7 per cent in 2001 and then in 2003 took this to more than 10 per cent.

Between themselves, these four men have significant interest in four of the biggest brands in British football. ENIC control 29.9% of shares in Spurs, 43% of AEK Athens, 11.8% of FC Basel, 20.2% of Glasgow Rangers, 96.7% of Slavia Prague and 99.9% of Vicenza.

In 2003, it became clear that the difficult financial climate affecting the football industry was going to have a considerable effect on ENIC and its shareholders. A new company called Kondar Ltd was formed by ENIC's majority shareholders to take the company off the stock market.

A cash offer of £40 million made by Joe Lewis and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will take ENIC back into private hands. Lewis and Levy control 52% of shares in the investment company.

Because ENIC has cash in the bank of around £25 million, the £40 million offer values all its football investments plus its betting and retail interests at just £15 million. This illustrates the extent to which the inflationary bubble around the football industry has burst. In 2000, ENIC spent £22 million just on its investment in Spurs.

The collapse of the transfer market and the expected drop in TV revenue are the main reasons for falling values in the football industry.

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