Villa sale moving closer, reports suggest
ASTON Villa could be edging closer to a £150m sale, reports in the national media suggest.
According to The Daily Telegraph newspaper and the BBC, a mystery bidder has been granted exclusivity, meaning it is in the late stages of trying to forge an agreement.
Unless talks break down, the Birmingham-based Premier League club could have new owners within the next six weeks.
The newspaper also reports current owner Randy Lerner – who put the club up for sale a year ago – has sold his farmhouse in Hurley, a village near Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training base, in the last few weeks.
There is no clue as to which of a number of potential buyers has been granted exclusivity to try and tie up a deal.
The Telegraph says one of the consortia linked with a takeover – fronted by Paul Smith, the former Chelsea executive – has been ruled out, according to investment banking sources.
The other consortia linked with buying Villa are from China and the US.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is negotiating the sale on behalf of Lerner.
Meanwhile, receivers acting for Birmingham City FC parent, Birmingham International Holdings have said that talks between them and a potential buyer of the business remain on-going.
In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the receiver said: “The receivers intend to enter into an exclusivity agreement with the potential offeror, a third party which is independent of and not connected with the company and the connected person(s) of the company, as soon as practicable.”
No formal offer has yet been submitted for the club and receivers said they would update further when there was a development.
The bidder has been named as Trillion Trophy Asia Ltd. The company is backed by a £12.8m (HK$153,000,000) facility and in an attempt to progress the bid has pledged cash collateral of £880,000 (HK$10.3m) to ensure Birmingham City FC Plc can obtain a banking facility.
