New owners vow to takeVilla back to top
AFTER weeks of speculation, Aston Villa have secured new investment and ownership of the club.
Businessmen Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have each bought a 27.5 per cent stake, enabling them to take majority control from previous owner Tony Xia who bought Villa in summer 2016.
The Sawiris family are said to be the most famous and richest family in Egypt whose interests include telecommunications, construction and tourism through their conglomerate Orascom.
Forbes estimates the family’s combined net worth to be £27 billion.
Mr Edens is co-founder of investment manager Fortress Investment Group and co-owner of US basketball team the Milwaukee Bucks and Forbes places his personal fortune at around £1.9 billion.
NSWE, jointly owned Mr Sawiris and Mr Edens, has paid £30 million to buy the club which is a considerable markdown on the £76 million Mr Xia gave Randy Lerner two years ago for his takeover.
Following the deal, Mr Sawiris has become executive chairman while Mr Edens is now co-chairman alongside Mr Xia who has retained a stake in Aston Villa.
Mr Xia said: “I am extremely pleased to have formed a strategic partnership with Nassef and Wes.
“We have a common goal of delivering future success for Aston Villa and I look forward to working together to achieve this aim.
“To have come so close to achieving promotion last season was a humbling experience.
“In finding such strong partners as Nassef and Wes, we’re gearing up to fight again and bring back the success that this club deserves and we all so want to provide it with.
“The future is exciting on a number of fronts and I look forward to exploring further business collaborations.”
Mr Sawiris and Mr Edens issued a joint statement, saying: “As lifelong football fans, we are excited and privileged to have become part of this great club.
“We believe together we bring business and sports experience that will help strengthen the club to ensure Aston Villa can return to its rightful place in the upper echelons of English football.
“Our goal is to bring sustainable success to the club, building on its rich history while respecting its loyal fan base and unique culture.
“We understand we are stewards of Aston Villa on behalf of the fans and we take that responsibility seriously.
“We look forward to working with Tony to undertake a thorough assessment and evaluation of the club in the coming weeks and our priority is to strengthen the squads and structures ahead of the upcoming season and beyond.”
A football business expert once dubbed a “jerknalist” by Tony Xia has claimed Aston Villa’s takeover has catapulted them into football’s financial elite.
Matt Scott, who specialises in football ownership, claims the club now has the “third richest” backers in the English game.
“If I can reassure anyone at all, the new owners are a massive step in the right direction. They’re in a much, much better place after the takeover last week,” Scott said during an interview on talkSPORT.
“The American guy Wesley Edens is a massively wealthy fella. At the moment he’s selling his stake in a private equity firm that he co-founded and that’s going to a Japanese tech investor called SoftBank, and they’re massive.
“They’ve got some interests in football and have even been linked with setting up a new FIFA Club World Cup.
“That deal English is going to be paying him (Edens) more than £400 million and that’s on top of his fortune which is already around two billion quid.
“You don’t get to own one of them (NBA teams) unless you are a very, very wealthy man.
“They do all their due diligence, the American sports league, on exactly what the new ownership is going to be.
“They’re far more robust in their examination of the credentials of new owners there than we are in this country.
“He’s not alone. His partner, Nassef Sawiris – he’s from Egypt and he’s even more wealthy. He’s the fourth richest man in Africa and has an estimated net worth of £5.1billion.
“They’ve now got the third richest owners in all of English football.”