The Pit of Misery (All mess in here)

[ozzjim]

Could it be an elaborate way of getting his money out of China?

[Matt Collins]

Its Tom Hanks

Obviously

[clash city rocker]

If you can have a whip round i'll gladly fly to China and bring all his millions over in suitcases.  Plus for cash we should be able to arrange better deals.

[ChicagoLion]

Could it be an elaborate way of getting his money out of China?

It  suggests new shareholders, that’s about as much as you can speculate.

[Matt Collins]

I just don't get why anyone would want equity in villa? Not at a decent price anyway

[Phil from the upper holte]

Just read an article stating that Xia could face jail time in China for wasting his money on us. The guy who's head of Fosun who own Wolves was arrested for questioning over the same thing. My question to Dr Tony is this. " Knowing how difficult it is for Chinese citizens to "export" your money out of the country why the fuck did you buy the villa and make all those bold predictions?"

So how can he keep putting in?

[GarTomas]

I just don't get why anyone would want equity in villa? Not at a decent price anyway

That effectively what all owners have in a club.  Even Lerner had lent the club money suggesting debt and not equity but then part of the sale was clearing the same debt.

[GarTomas]

The main holding company is issuing some more shares.  One of the subsidiary Aston Villa companies is issuing shares and removing the pre-emption rights, which means that when they issue shares, they don't have to offer minority shareholders the chance to buy them in the same proportion.
None of the detail is accessible though until the document appears fully on Companies House, which can take up to 5 days.

So removal of pre-emption means new shares are ring fenced for a particular individual/company.

In practice yes - no guarantee that the individual or company has been identified though.

[Risso]

I just don't get why anyone would want equity in villa? Not at a decent price anyway

That effectively what all owners have in a club.  Even Lerner had lent the club money suggesting debt and not equity but then part of the sale was clearing the same debt.

For most of his time, Lerner injected debt and equity in equal amounts.

[GarTomas]

I just don't get why anyone would want equity in villa? Not at a decent price anyway

That effectively what all owners have in a club.  Even Lerner had lent the club money suggesting debt and not equity but then part of the sale was clearing the same debt.

For most of his time, Lerner injected debt and equity in equal amounts.

Your memory is better than mine!

[ChicagoLion]

To have purchased the club he would have to have gained exchange control license.
The currency restrictions in China are not to prevent legitimate business activity.
Financing a Football club that you have purchased would be legitimate.
So unless something else has happened in China I see no reason why he would not be able to use money if it was available to him.
As mentioned above he banks with HSBC which is the ideal institution to move money legitimately in and out of China.

[Risso]

I was reading something yesterday about the Chinese authorities taking a dim view of what they saw as vanity investments in sports teams, and instead wanted to see investment in things like infrastructure projects in Africa.

[ChicagoLion]

I was reading something yesterday about the Chinese authorities taking a dim view of what they saw as vanity investments in sports teams, and instead wanted to see investment in things like infrastructure projects in Africa.

When Xia first came on the scene it was suggested that China wanted to have a top International  Football team and that these investments in football was blessed by Xi Jingping.
 It could have been PR of course and things could have changed.
I know the stuff they are clamping down on, domestic real estate investment, shadow banking operations and any project / scheme which is just a vehicle to obtain foreign currency positions.

[Matt Collins]

I just don't get why anyone would want equity in villa? Not at a decent price anyway

That effectively what all owners have in a club.  Even Lerner had lent the club money suggesting debt and not equity but then part of the sale was clearing the same debt.

I know that. Once they're in they get sucked more in trying to sort it out. But isn't the suggestion here they someone else has put equity into a  massive loss making business that could be available at a knock down price in a matter of weeks or months?

[Matt Collins]

To have purchased the club he would have to have gained exchange control license.
The currency restrictions in China are not to prevent legitimate business activity.
Financing a Football club that you have purchased would be legitimate.
So unless something else has happened in China I see no reason why he would not be able to use money if it was available to him.
As mentioned above he banks with HSBC which is the ideal institution to move money legitimately in and out of China.

I've read that it's very difficult to pinpoint the controls, and that the authorities can just move for or against you on stuff like this

But I also read that the controls that have affected the company invested in Atletico madrid - and which they had to sell because of that - only really kick in at a level of investment higher than what Xia has put in (though I reckon he's done the best part of 150m!)