The mouth-watering $700m deal struck by Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner that will alert the Fratton faithful

$700m deeper, in fact, after the Wall Street Journal this week reported that the American has just sold iconic sweets company Bazooka Candy Brands.

Private equity firm Apax Partners are the reported new owners, with the Bazooka owned by Eisner’s Tornante group and his private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners since 2007.

Back then it was purchased for an estimated at $385m – handing the Blues owner a handsome profit of $315m 15 years later.

The sale comes less than 18 months after Topps Cards – the former trading card segment of Bazooka which was also owned by Eisner – was sold to Fanatics for $500m.

It’s claimed Bazooka Candy Brands currently sells around 40m units of chewing gum and sweets per year.

The sale comes as Eisner and Tornante continue to investment in Pompey, following their £5.67m acquisition of the club in the summer of 2017.

Off the pitch, Fratton Park’s new £12m refurbishment is nearing completion, with visions of a new £40m North Stand also in the pipeline. However, that depends on a deal being struck with Network Rail over a footbridge and walkway being built at Fratton Station.

In 2021, Eisner & Co also announced the freehold acquisition of their training base at Roko and its surrounding land. It is believed this is the first time in the club’s history that they have owned our own training facility.

Meanwhile, in March, the Blues’ owners ploughed a further £9m into the club – as equity rather than loans – taking their total investment up to £28m, following £5m of new equity in November 2021 and an additional £4m invested in June 2022.

They also financed £10m of share capital when purchasing Pompey in 2017.

Despite this, the Blues are currently competing in League One for a seventh consecutive season, with Pompey’s promotion ambitions frustratingly coming up short during Eisner’s time at the helm

However, in June, the billionaire admitted he was ‘pretty confident’ that this season would be the Blues’ last in the third tier.

Since then, Pompey have brought in 13 new signings – 11 of which has been permanent deals – and sit fourth in the table following an unbeaten start to the campaign.

There’s no doubt, though, many fans would love to see additional money earmarked for the first team.