What Aston Villa have just done could cause rift between NSWE and Atairos as £3bn at stake

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Aston Villa’s ownership of Wes Edens, Nassef Sawiris and Atairos have shown the kind of free-spending ambition in football that fans of most clubs can only dream of.

Edens made his money in the private equity and energy industries, later branching out in sports via his investment in Aston Villa and NBA franchise the Milwaukee Bucks.

Sawiris is Egypt’s richest man and made his name in the construction sector. Like Edens, he too has interests in multiple sports via his stake in MSG Sports, as well as Villa kit manufacturer Adidas.

The third prong on the trident, Atairos, are a London-headquartered private equity firm who count Villa as one component of the reported £7bn of assets they currently manage.

Atairos have steadily increased their stake since first buying into Villa’s parent company V Sports last year.

They pumped £51m into Villa via a share issue in October and now control almost as much equity as Edens and Sawiris respectively. Incidentally, that share issue valued Villa at £1bn.

A few months previous, Atairos chairman Michael Angelakis was installed as one of four new board members at Aston Villa itself.

That marked the first time that the group has imposed its influence on the club in a structural sense, although they have presumably been having input behind the scenes for some time.

But in a financial sense, they have been every bit as integral to Villa’s success on the pitch as Edens and Sawiris since investing in the club.

Villa are still in very much in the race to qualify for the Champions League again this term despite a recent drop-off in form. Tomorrow night, Unai Emery’s side take on Juventus at Villa Park.

In the last recorded financial year, 2022-23, Villa racked up losses of £139m. In 2023-24, they spent big to try and bring European football back to the Midlands and are projected to lose over £60m.

In order to stay afloat in terms of the Premier League and UEFA’s financial rules therefore, the club are leaving no stone unturned to raise revenue.

But one particular scheme which Premier League clubs think could be the next big thing might not sit particularly well with Atairos.

• READ MORE: £135m Aston Villa transfer plan key as Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris in PSR split

Premier League media plan may threaten Atairos

For all but the most elite Premier League clubs, media income is comfortably the biggest of the three main revenue streams.

And the pot is only set to get bigger. This week, the Premier League revealed that the next TV rights cycle will be worth 17 per cent more, taking the total to £12.25bn, or £3bn every season.

However, clubs are scheming to make more from the media without the help of traditional broadcasters like Sky Sports.

The Premier League’s latest shareholder meeting last Friday was dominated by the vote on revisions to the APT rules, which Villa had sided with Man City to delay.

Ultimately, the new rules were passed.

But perhaps more significant in the long run was the relatively under-the-radar news that Villa and their 19 peers in the top flight unanimously voted to create an in-house Premier League media platform.

When up and running, a streaming platform – which analysts have long suggested could be the ‘Netflix of football’ – could let clubs to cut out the middle man and, they believe, supercharge their media income.

In principle, it is a no-brainer.

But for Villa, this could prove awkward as Atairos are funded by Comcast, who in turn own Sky and Sky Sports, whose flagship product is the Premier League.

Sky are higher in Comcast and Atairos’ list of priorities when it comes to their business portfolio, so it will be interesting to see how they balance this potential conflict of interest.

• READ MORE: Aston Villa's Wes Edens has already signed £2.4bn deal with Man City chairman amid Nassef Sawiris statement

What is Atairos’ long-term strategy at Aston Villa?

In private equity, limited partners typically expect a return on their investment in cycles of three to seven years.

There is, however, acknowledgement that this timeframe is almost certainly impossible to satisfy in football, where most clubs – including Villa – run at a loss each season.

The fact that Atairos’ stake is also a minority investment also means that they have limited options in terms of an ‘out’.

After all, the pool of buyers willing to part with significant sum in exchange for an equity stake that does not necessarily guarantee major influence is relatively small.