Chinese tycoon forks out S$131m to buy Aston Villa

LONDON — Randy Lerner has agreed to the £65 million (S$131 million) sale of Aston Villa to Chinese businessman Tony Xia.

Lerner’s unpopular 10-year reign is close to ending, with Xia expected to replace Steve Hollis as chairman at the relegated English Premier League club.

Villa have been in talks with three separate parties, with the other two hailing from America and the United Kingdom, but Xia’s Chinese consortium have been putting the finishing touches to the deal this week.

Xia’s immediate objective is to return Aston Villa to the Premier League and then to have the club finish in the top six, bringing European football back to Villa Park. He plans to make Aston Villa the most famous football club in China with a huge fan base.

“His commitment to invest in the squad and leadership at Bodymoor Heath was expressed early on, but as we visited together, and had some unrushed time to discuss his plans, Tony’s excitement to develop Villa Park shone through,” said Lerner of Xia’s plans.

“I remain convinced that this is a crucial part of Aston Villa’s future as it provides a critical, long-term second source of revenue and therefore sustainability for the club from which squad-funding can potentially come.

“It is with that that I want to say thank you, and to wish Tony every success going forward.”

Roberto Di Matteo, the former Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion manager, is believed to be Xia’s No 1 choice to take over at Villa Park and confirmation could be made next week.

Di Matteo, 45, has been out of work since leaving Schalke in May last year but is widely expected to make his return in the West Midlands.

Nigel Pearson was Hollis’ first choice, and held at least two rounds of talks with the old Villa board, but his hopes of returning to management have faded away after the Chinese consortium edged to the front of the queue.

Xia’s takeover ends Lerner’s turbulent reign, after the American bought the club from Doug Ellis for £62.6 million in 2006.

At the start of his tenure, Villa secured three top-six finishes under Martin O’Neill, but have spent the last six seasons battling against relegation.

He has been targeted for vicious abuse by supporters this season and last attended a game at Villa Park in September 2014 – which was his first visit in nearly two years.

Their relegation to the Championship was confirmed after the 1-0 defeat at Manchester United last month, their first season outside the top flight since 1987. AGENCIES

WHO IS TONY XIA?

His business

- His Recon Group is a privately owned holding company that owns the controlling interest in five publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges and many other private companies, employing 35,000 people in 75 countries.

- Recon Group is a multinational conglomerate operating in six core business sectors and has taken advantage of China’s economic growth over the last two decades as the Government has carried out a programme of moving 500 million people from rural to urban living.

- Recon Group has been at the forefront of this giant urbanisation development and holds an estimated 40 per cent market share of the Digital City business sector.

- The six core business sectors include IT Infrastructure and Services for Smart Cities, Health & Agriculture, New Energy & Smart Transportation, Engineering & Design, Recon Capital including financial services and Sports, Leisure & Tourism.

- Lotus Health Group, part of the Health and Agriculture Division, is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and is the largest glutamic company in China and the second largest in the world with 12,000 employees, 10,000 distributors in China and 40,000 worldwide in 70 countries.

- Xia is the Chairman/CEO and owner of Recon Group.

His education

- After graduation in China, he was among the initial 25 highly-rated graduates out of 1,000 who was awarded an overseas scholarship by the government.

- He spent six years at Harvard and MIT, as well as a five-month exchange programme with Oxford University before returning to China to develop Recon Group.

His sport

- Xia played as a striker until he finished at college and football has remained his passion.

- He decided to buy an iconic football club in England as the cornerstone of his Sports, Leisure and Tourism Division. He became a fan of Aston Villa many years ago and is delighted at the opportunity to become the new owner.

His ambitions

- Xia’s immediate objective is to return Aston Villa to the Premier League and then to have the club finish in the top six, bringing European football back to Villa Park.

- He plans to make Aston Villa the most famous football club in China with a huge fan base.

- He plans to improve the squad.

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CLUBS OWNED BY ASIANS

Leicester City (Eng) - Vichai Srivaddanaprabha (Thailand)

Valencia CF (Esp) and Salford City (Eng) - Peter Lim (Singapore)

Inter Milan (Ita) - Erick Thohir (Indonesia)

Manchester City (Eng) - Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Qatar)

Paris Saint-Germain (Fra) – Nasser Al-Khelaifi (Qatar)

Aston Villa (Eng) - Tony Xia (China)

Queens Park Rangers (Eng) - Tony Fernandes (Malaysia)

Cardiff City (Eng) and FK Sarajevo (Bos) - Vincent Tan (Malaysia)

Blackburn Rovers (Eng) - Anuradha Desai, Venkatesh Rao & Balaji Rao (India)

Fulham FC (Eng) - Shahid Khan (Pakistan)

Birmingham City (Eng) – Carson Yeung (Hong Kong)

Sheffield United – Abdullah bin Musa’ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Saudi Arabia)