Re: ASTON VILLA TAKEOVER THREAD

[The Utterer]

Back to fun speculation... If we really are for sale, or open to offers then maybe Amanda Staveley's PCP Group might look at us, they were previously in negotiations to buy Newcastle for £300m and before that tried to buy a stake in Liverpool, so they obviously want a football club, and we'd come cheap in comparison.

Would be great but then neither of those clubs was being strangled to death by FFP so were worth investing in.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Back to fun speculation... If we really are for sale, or open to offers then maybe Amanda Staveley's PCP Group might look at us, they were previously in negotiations to buy Newcastle for £300m and before that tried to buy a stake in Liverpool, so they obviously want a football club, and we'd come cheap in comparison.

Would be great but then neither of those clubs was being strangled to death by FFP so were worth investing in.

Well we'd obviously be a slightly longer term project, but that's why we'd be so much cheaper, it would just be a case of getting us back into the Premier league.

[smetro]

Back to fun speculation... If we really are for sale, or open to offers then maybe Amanda Staveley's PCP Group might look at us, they were previously in negotiations to buy Newcastle for £300m and before that tried to buy a stake in Liverpool, so they obviously want a football club, and we'd come cheap in comparison.

It pains me to say it but we are light years behind liverpool - Newcastle not so much - I don't know that group but would they only be interested in a northern club. I can see no reason why they wouldn't be interested at a fraction of £300m .......unless its the curse of FFP.

[AstonThriller]

Back to fun speculation... If we really are for sale, or open to offers then maybe Amanda Staveley's PCP Group might look at us, they were previously in negotiations to buy Newcastle for £300m and before that tried to buy a stake in Liverpool, so they obviously want a football club, and we'd come cheap in comparison.

Yep, since the sale rumors were first floated I've mentioned PCP several times. I just think our structure i.e stadium, academy, training facilities, fanbase etc is every bit as good as most premiership teams, so by getting us for around 70-80m, they could then invest a little money to get us up, and then let the party begin in the premiership. It would work out to be way cheaper than buying Toon or buying a stake in Liverpool.

And the news coming out just now about Wyness and the tax stuff makes me believe even more than Xia has to go. His empire is collapsing before his very eyes and I think he should cut his loses before he does even more damage.

[AstonThriller]

Well we'd obviously be a slightly longer term project, but that's why we'd be so much cheaper, it would just be a case of getting us back into the Premier league.

Isn't there a rule that new owners don't get affected by FFP In their first few years? Or did I read that wrong?

[deadbuzzardalive]

I thought that as well, but I'm not sure, the way things are looking though we could probably do with someone stepping in to save us.

[Synopsis]

Think that may be the UEFA ffp regs your thinking of?
http://www.financialfairplay.co.uk/championship-ffp-rules-201617.php

[deadbuzzardalive]

Here's the Time Article...

Peter B Freund, a minority shareholder in baseball’s New York Yankees, is preparing to make a formal offer to buy Aston Villa for £75 million as the club face up to the threat of going into administration.

Keith Wyness, the chief executive, was suspended yesterday after a disagreement with the owner Tony Xia, who is understood to have taken umbrage at his most senior employee’s advice to settle a £4.2 million tax bill owed to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to avoid a winding-up order.

Xia has been in China since Villa’s Championship play-off final defeat by Fulham ten days ago, which plunged the club into financial turmoil, but last night announced he was taking over as chief executive until further notice. The 41-year-old is understood to have been searching for new investors for several weeks as a contingency plan in case Villa failed to win promotion, and talks with Freund are expected to accelerate after Wyness’s suspension.

During initial negotiations Xia is understood to have valued Villa at £100 million, although given the club’s severe financial problems and struggles to pay creditors such as HMRC he has yet to receive an offer that matches his valuation.

The club need to make savings of about £40 million next season to avoid being fined for breaching the Football League’s Financial Fair Play rules and have had significant cash-flow problems in recent weeks, which has led to infighting, culminating in yesterday’s dramatic events.

Xia is understood to have spent £140 million on Villa, including his £76 million purchase from Randy Lerner two years ago, with his valuation of £100 million reflecting his desire to recoup the majority of that investment. Xia does not have financial problems of his own, with his net worth estimated at £1 billion, but has struggled to get money out of China recently due to stricter foreign exchange controls imposed by the government. The Times has been told that he has not provided any fresh funding to Villa for the past three months.

There are a number of parties interested in buying Villa, including at least one British group, with Freund putting together a US consortium in which he would take a majority share. The American has been looking at adding an English football club to his Trinity Sports Holdings (TSH) company for some time, a group that has a stake in the Yankees, as well as owning a number of Minor League baseball clubs. TSH have also signed an expansion agreement with the United States Soccer League to enter new club Memphis City in the league next year. Freund is the president of Trinity Packaging Corp, a plastics manufacturer, which began as a family business in New York in 1917.

Trevor Birch, the former administrator and Chelsea chief executive, has been consulted on cost-cutting, but is not involved in sale process. Xia’s cashflow problems have been compounded by Villa’s spending in attempting to return to the Premier League, with John Terry being paid a salary of £60,000 a week last season.

Wyness is understood to have held crisis talks with Xia over the HMRC issue yesterday which culminated in his suspension. There is no suggestion that Wyness has been accused of wrongdoing.

Villa are confident the tax issue will be resolved, but the club still face a summer of significant cuts. They have already reduced costs by releasing Terry and have ruled out the return of high-profile loanees including Robert Snodgrass. That could mean a promotion to the first team of several of the club’s academy graduates.

Steve Bruce has expressed a wish to remain as manager but a statement last week from Xia offered no guarantees about his future. News of Wyness’s suspension will be of concern to Bruce, who counted the chief executive among his most vocal supporters behind the scenes.

[deadbuzzardalive]

It would be funny if that consortium who were in for Newcastle did buy us now, especially with the amount of gloating from their fans, Wolves and small heath are just as bad.

The more and more that comes out though, the more it becomes imperative that the club is sold.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Sky reporting that Xia would sell for the right price, but his preferred option is finding investors but remaining in control, not sure how that would work, as presumably the investors would have to take on the financial burden of the club for only a minority stake. I fear the only way XIa is going to go is if he's forced out by administration, unless we get incredibly lucky and a mega wealthy buyer comes in and gives him his money back, just to get the deal done quickly.

[NARLA24]

Hate to say it....but we are fucked. Proper fucked.

[DelboyVilla]

Any talk from BMH Narla?

[deadbuzzardalive]

We are if Xia refuses to sell, because he doesn't want to admit failure. Only two things I can see saving us, are either Administration, or us getting lucky and someone coming in and giving Xia his money back.

[Dions_Bald_Head]

I don't care how wealthy the bidder is as long as they are serious about sorting out the club & finding a way to make us sustainable. Surely this is more important than all these breast-beating calls to make us footballing superpower within x number of years?!

[AstonThriller]

Well sky seem to think there are plenty of interested parties.....

@villareport

A number of interested parties have approached the club to discuss purchasing the club outright. Any potential new owner would need in excess of £100m simply to cover the contractual commitments in place at Villa Park. [sky sports] #avfc

Xia may have made mistakes in his quest to get us promoted, but I really don't think he will stand in the way IF a decent bid comes in from a group/person who can take this club forward, I really don't. I suspect we will hear a LOT of takeover rumors over the coming weeks now, and like I said, I hope PCP are one of the parties involved as I think they would have the clo0ut to really make an impact here.

[deadbuzzardalive]

According to someone on Villatalk Xia has taken out a loan of £50m from one of his companies, and now it's spread and everyone seems to be taking it as a given that it's to help us, but I think they might be jumping the gun myself.

As for the takeover it's alright saying that we don't mind how much any potential new owners have, but I think they're going to have to have deep pockets just to take on club in the financial state it's in at the moment. PCP would be good, they were intending to make Newcastle the next Man City according reports in the middle east where Amanda Staveley lives, but whether they'd be interested in a Championship club is another question.

[Synopsis]

New owners get no free reign and no reset when it comes to the new EFL ffp regs, so any new owner would still need to ensure our loses do not exceed 13m a season or the EFL will simply issue the required punishment each March.

The way I'm seeing it is even if a new owner was to be found, either they would need to be very clever with a sponsorship deal or they would face the hard task of almost completely resetting the clubs finances, whilst still trying to achieve promotion, all whilst keeping our loses within this 13m meaning even most common severance packages are out of the window.

This is a monumental task given our reported £100m in contractual commitments alone already in place for the next 12months, even if all of this is bankrolled, be it by this owner or a new owner I cannot see how we will not breach the regs and face punishment. The required amount of sponsorship would be unheard of at this level and would raise many questions, without this your looking at pretty much every senior player either being sold or agreeing a wage cut surely?

[FoxyAV]

Promotion? Our target this season now seems to be to not lose all our promising U23 players and to try to stay in the Championship!

[smetro]

Hate to say it....but we are fucked. Proper fucked.

I just can't see a way forward. Xia might not be able to sell because he may have brought us with a loan.

Evan if we do find a buyer - who are they going to be - who takes on £70 to 100m debt - with no way of clearing it ? - I tell who you loan companies - who consolidate the debt and fleece with massive interest payments - after a couple of years they move us on.

A UK consortium or a supporter buy out seem our only options - both fraught with problems.

We won't go under because we have 20,000 people willing to buy a season tickets - people will own us - cream a bit of that money off (which might not be 100's of millions - but its a couple of million for someone holding a debt)

[deadbuzzardalive]

Despite the state of the finances I still think there will be people interested, because with some clever strategic planning, it's still possible to get us back into the Premier in the not too distant future, at which point their investment can start paying off.

I think it's just a question as to whether Xia is willing to let the club go, if there's any truth to the rumours that he's secured £50m from somewhere then maybe not, but then again I've no idea how these things work, and he hasn't denied any of the takeover stories.

[big ming]

According to today's Mail, Jim Ratcliffe has made an offer for Chelsea and been turned down by Abramovic.
Mr.Ratcliffe is a sel-made billionaire who now tops the nation's Top 100 Rich List.
Give him a bell, Tony.

[UnclePanda]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-owner-dr-tony-12654825

[The Utterer]

That Mirror article is about as reliable as i would expect from that rag.
Just a mixture of rehashed stories, BS & a bit of fabricated drama for effect.

[smetro]

Its not the greatest of sources - but I do know a friend of friend who has high level contacts at WBA - the word he is hearing is despite media denials XIA admits villa villa adventure has been a disaster and is very, very, keen to sell up.

[deadbuzzardalive]

According to the Birmingham Mail Peter Freund’s interest has 'cooled', but there are other interested parties, one of which may come forward before the end of the week.

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