There’s a good article in the Times today apparently about how this deal came together and some of the plans of our new owners. If someone has a subscription maybe they can post it. Here’s the Twitter link.
https://twitter.com/ste_healy/status/1020966894046674944?s=12
FOOTBALL
Billionaires ride in to rescue Aston Villa
Investors raise promotion hopes after buying 55 per cent stake in the club
Ian Whittell
July 22 2018, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Prize asset: Aston Villa hope to hold on to Jack G
England’s World Cup defeat by Croatia 11 days ago may have resulted in national disappointment, but for Aston Villa supporters it could prove to have been one of the most pivotal events in the club’s history, given what was unfolding in an Idaho hotel room as the semi-final took place.
Sequestered there while attending the annual Sun Valley “moguls” conference were billionaire friends Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. By the end of the evening and despite the anti-climax of seeing the team they were supporting lose, the pair had hatched a plan to buy Villa.
Nine days later, the pair had each bought 27.5% of the Championship club from Tony Xia, for a controlling interest in a venture he had mortgaged to the hilt in a gamble to win promotion, only for the team to fall short in the playoff final against Fulham in May.
Given the Midlands club’s current debt, the pair were able to wrestle the 55% controlling interest for £30m although if the new owners are to fulfil the ambition of Xia, they are looking at bankrolling manager Steve Bruce with a considerably larger sum.
“They obviously have deep pockets,” said a source close to the deal. “They spoke about ‘the upper echelons of English football’ so they are not going into this to stay in the Championship.
“They are genuine football fans. Nassef, in particular, is a pretty private guy for a man of his wealth. He is not doing this because he is a brash guy who wants to splash the cash. He’s doing it primarily for his love of the game and that applies to both of them.”
If the speed and efficient nature of their takeover is anything to go by, Villa supporters could be in for a spectacular ride. Within three days of the Croatia game, Sawiris, a London-based Egyptian businessman worth an estimated £5.2bn, and Edens had relocated to the Hilton on Edgware Road for meetings. By last Monday, talks with Xia concluded at Sopwell House in St Albans, where a deal was finalised.
The purchase marks the fulfilment of the billionaires’ long-standing interest in the sport. Edens, a co-owner in NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks, had attended every World Cup since USA 1994 until this summer and spoke to the former England captain David Beckham about becoming involved in his Miami MLS franchise, while Sawiris’ array of business interests includes a board position at Adidas.
The pair would not be the first successful businessmen to flounder in football — as Xia will testify after a summer in which playoff defeat was followed by an unpaid £4m tax bill and concerns about Villa’s inability to meet the Football League’s financial fair play regulations concerning “profitability and sustainability”.
The situation led to an acceptance that any saleable assets — particularly the creative midfielder Jack Grealish, aged 22 — would be liable to being sold and drove Xia to look for fresh investment.
The crisis also created uncertainty over the status of veteran manager Bruce and he, as well as the club’s immediate financial obligations and transfer policy, will be widely examined by the new owners when they convene with Xia at Villa Park, possibly as early as tomorrow. Villa open the Championship season with a tricky trip to Hull City on Monday, August 6.
Short-term, sources talk of “stabilising” the club’s finances while the duo are bullish about the need to find a way to not only bring in new blood but also keep players such as Grealish.
Longer-term, they have spoken of investing heavily in youth development and competing for honours, while Villa fans can expect a more “traditional” approach from the reserved Sawiris. Xia’s eccentric social media antics could be a thing of the past.
Indeed, whether Xia has a long-term role remains to be seen. With Sawiris “executive chairman” and Edens “co-chairman,” Xia remains on the board, for now, with his minority interest.
There is, therefore, a large element of the unknown facing Villa but, if the success Edens has enjoyed in running the Bucks over the past four years is anything to go by, the signs are good. Not only has the basketball team’s value nearly doubled to just over a billion dollars but the club recently re-signed star player Giannis Antetokounmpo to a four-year, £76.1m contract worth £366,000 a week. Bruce and Villa fans dare only dream of such a future.