Liverpool and Tottenham's new stadium plans hinge on raising funds from American investors

Both clubs are looking to kick-start stadium developments this year, but the global economic climate and the reluctance of banks to issue huge loans for major capital projects has led them to focus their fund-raising efforts in the US.

Telegraph Sport understands that both clubs are examining a range of debt-financing options with American investors, including ‘private placements’, a method of raising funds by selling bonds to private investors.

Under a private placement, investors would buy bonds in the club at a fixed rate of interest, which they would receive at set periods throughout the term of the deal. At its conclusion the initial investment would be repaid.

Manchester United refinanced more than £500 million of bank loans in 2009 by issuing corporate bonds in the club on the UK and American markets.

It was considered a success after it attracted significant take up from investors and allowed the Glazers to maintain their debt-financed ownership of the club, albeit at the cost of annual interest repayments of around £40  million.

Tottenham and Liverpool are understood to be less likely to issue corporate bonds that could be publicly traded, preferring to target private investors for the specific purpose of financing new grounds.

Arsenal successfully employed this model to finance the Emirates.

The fund-raising plans at both clubs are running alongside the search for naming-rights sponsors, a market that promises to be crowded in 2012, with Chelsea and the Olympic Park also seeking stadium partners.

Both Spurs and Liverpool would hope to raise at least £150 million over 10 years from a sponsor, with Tottenham targeting closer to £200 million. Spurs are expected to attract interest from Chinese sponsors and have been linked with Qatar Airways.

The clubs could borrow against a naming rights deal to allow them to kick-start construction work, with the balance of the total cost coming from investors.

Tottenham have estimated that their new stadium development at Northumberland Park, adjacent to White Hart Lane, will require around £300 million in funding, which UK banks are highly unlikely to consider in the current climate.

There would be competition among banks to handle a private placement in the US, however, particularly given the involvement of the club’s ultimate backer, the billionaire financier Joe Lewis.

Lewis is a key player in Tottenham’s expansion plans but so far he has maintained his policy of allowing the club to stand on its own resources, rather than dipping into his own fortune to boost spending on players and facilities.

His wealth could be a significant factor in a successful fund-raising however, particularly if he agreed to underwrite or act as a guarantor in the process.

The search for private investment is understood to have been a factor in Tottenham’s decision to delist the club from the London stock exchange, a move agreed by the club’s shareholders last month. The move means the club is now privately owned, with the vast majority of shares held by Joe Lewis’s ENIC.

Liverpool’s planned new stadium in Stanley Park is expected to cost a similar amount to Tottenham’s new ground, with the club’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group, naturally examining fund-raising options at home as well as in the UK.

Officially the club are still considering the option of redeveloping Anfield, but their interest in financing options suggests that a new ground is the more likely option.