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The 2016 Takeover Thread


Sam3773

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I very much doubt it's this guy to be honest. He's obviously been interested, and may still be interest, but I can't see Randy selling the club to him.

Obviously, this is just based on what I think I know about Lerner. 

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19 minutes ago, Jordanderve said:

A venture capitalist means asset stripping and an exit strategy from the off. VC owners would be bad news in my opinion...

 

Appointed Feb 2015? 

Edit. For what it is worth the Company was incorporated 10 Feb 2015.  http://www.companieshousedata.co.uk/c/09432775

 

Edited by Gary Thomas
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Presumably set up the investment vehicle around the time when we granted exclusivity in 2015 to a mystery bidder. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-takeover-edges-closer-5847818

From June 2015:

"Randy Lerner's £150million sale of Aston Villa has edged a step closer after an unknown bidder was given exclusivity.

Mirror Sport revealed in April that a Chinese consortium were interested in buying the Premier League club, while former Arsenal defender Tony Adams and former IMG and Chelsea executive Paul Smith were also reported to be keen.

A third consortium from America is also interested in ending Lerner’s nine-year tenure as chairman.

However, one of them have jumped to the front of the queue, according to the Telegraph, and could conclude a deal by the end of next month.

Lerner first put Villa up for sale at the end of last season and looks close to finally finding a buyer for the Midlands club.

The 53-year-old has reportedly flogged his farmhouse near Villa's Bodymoor Heath headquarters as this latest deal moves closer.

Meanwhile, Ron Vlaar has been offered new terms by Aston Villa, while Darren Bent has joined Derby County after being released by the club.

Vlaar will be a free agent at the end of the month, with his current contract at Villa Park set to expire ahead of the summer transfer window.

However, he could now stay in the west Midlands, after Villa confirmed this morning he would be offered a new deal."

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6 minutes ago, limpid said:

No it doesn't.

You missed off "in my opinion". My experience of dealing with venture capitalist organisations is that of restructuring and organisational sell offs.

VC are tasked with one main requirement for their investors which is to simply get a return on their capital as soon as possible. I do not believe that their concern will be the long term well being of Aston Villa football club.

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6 years ago he didn't have enough money to pay his taxes. I am sure it is all sorted now but I am not sure someone with recent cash flow problems needs to be in charge of AVFC. We will  need that much just to pay off Pearson.... at Xmas!!!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/financial-woes-plague-nashville-owner/article4294037/

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Just now, Texas_Mike said:

6 years ago he didn't have enough money to pay his taxes. I am sure it is all sorted now but I am not sure someone with recent cash flow problems needs to be in charge of AVFC. We will  need that much just to pay off Pearson.... at Xmas!!!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/financial-woes-plague-nashville-owner/article4294037/

His personal wealth won't come into it. He will just be heading up a consortium of investors.

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14 minutes ago, Jordanderve said:

You missed off "in my opinion". My experience of dealing with venture capitalist organisations is that of restructuring and organisational sell offs.

VC are tasked with one main requirement for their investors which is to simply get a return on their capital as soon as possible. I do not believe that their concern will be the long term well being of Aston Villa football club.

I didn't miss it off. The "in my opinion" clearly referred to them being "bad owners". I was just correcting your statement that VCs are asset strippers.

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Yep, only reason to invest in us now rather than when we were in the prem is because you see the potential of us as a club making money for you over and above the price paid. 

That's either as a 142 year old advert for whatever it is you sell or because getting us back in shape and in the prem means we would be worth over £200m, which if you've paid £75m gives a bit of margin for investing in the squad to get us there.

No scenario would see us sold to make an immediate profit, any profit can only be made if we get back into the prem and stay there.

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5 hours ago, StanBalaban said:

As I said in my post a couple of pages back, I work with VC's quite a lot. In order 'asset strip', restructure and sell off, we would have to have assets that justify an immediate and healthy return on a £100m purchase price, and an organisation that can be restructured and sold off.

We don't.

The only ways to justify the purchase of AVFC for an investors point of view are:

to either invest enough in the club and personnel to be successful on the football field so that we are capable of being similarly commercially successful - if we're become a profitable club then we will be an attractive asset to either retain, or sell again at a much higher price. In this scenario, the purchaser must realise that the club needs money, time and expertise, which is fine by me. 

Or

The investors purchase the club as 'halo' marketing tool for an existing brand, product, region or service that they are currently involved in. 
In this scenario, AVFC doesn't necessarily be a profitable entity, as the other parts of the business will be where the revenue will be made. However, for this to work it will require Aston Villa to become successful and relevant brand in order for us to assist in marketing something else. Think Red Bull's various sports teams, Man City / Etihad / Abu Dhabi, Leicester / King Power - even stadium naming like Emirates / Allianz. These arrangements may not generate  profit from the football team, but put their brands into the living rooms of a huge global audience every single week.

This would probably require us to become a PL club again and, more importantly,  stay in the PL - which takes money, time and expertise.  Again, fine by me. 

 

Great post you are exactly right. A VC is not there (necessarily) to dismember what they have just bought and to be honest if they did that they would lose a shed load of money. AVFC is not a collection of prized assets for someone.

My take on any new owner is that we are now perversely more attractive in the Championship rather than the PL as we are now much cheaper to buy.

Stan is right in his two options and personally I see us as a marketing tool for someone. To get a decent manager and a squad capable of getting us out of the Championship would cost ten of millions not hundreds of millions. Even if we ignore the halo option if costs were under control and we had a wage bill akin to say Southampton at £60m and we were back in the PL with a guaranteed £100m minimum from the TV deal the P&L account suddenly looks attractive and the club should be self financing as it will be cash generative. That will not be wasted on a new owner, particularly not a VC. 

What has royally screwed us from the day Lerner bought the club was his total inability to control costs or employ someone to control those costs. 

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