Aston Villa takeover set to ‘bolster’ city’s attractiveness to investors
THE Chinese takeover of Aston Villa is a significant boost for Birmingham’s Foreign Direct Investment capabilities, the head of the city’s inward investment body has said.
Neil Rami, Chief Executive, Marketing Birmingham, said: “This is an important development. The sale of Aston Villa to the Recon Group is a welcome continuation of a trend for Chinese investment into Birmingham.
“We rank number one amongst regional cities attracting Chinese investors and the West Midlands is the only region in the UK with a trading surplus with China. The sale will undoubtedly help build Birmingham’s profile in a vital growth market at a key moment in the city’s economic resurgence.
“With the current infrastructure investment going into the region, the growth of our airport and the prospect of high speed rail connections, Chinese investors are already recognising the enormous growth potential here. The Recon deal will no doubt further develop the city’s reputation in China and I am sure will bolster our international inward investment efforts.”
The football club has been launching a charm offensive to try and educate its fans on who the new owners are and what the £60m takeover will mean for the club.
In a post on the club’s website, it outlines more about the Recon Group, which it says 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% market share of the Digital City business sector,” it states.
The group’s 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.
The website states that Dr. Tony Jiantong Xia is the Chairman/CEO and owner of Recon Group. After graduation in China, he was amongst the initial 25 highly rated graduates out of 1,000 sent to study overseas. He spent six years at Harvard and MIT including five months exchange with Oxford University before returning to China to develop Recon Group.
It also turns out that he has a passion for football and played as a striker until he finished at college.
“Dr Xia 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,” adds the statement.
“Dr 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.”
The club has also said it is confident that a new manager could be in place at Villa Park as soon as next week.
Former West Brom and Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo now seems to be the front runner.
