Reports: Tony Xia rejects £40m offer for Aston Villa majority stake
Owner Tony Xia is in talks with two interested parties regarding a possible takeover of Aston Villa, the Express & Star understands.
The Championship crisis-club have been crippled by severe financial problems ever since their play-off loss to Fulham – with a missed tax payment seeing the club face a winding-up order last month before Xia secured a loan to pay the bills.
The owner has been looking for outside investment ever since Villa missed out on a place in the Premier League.
And it is understood he is currently in talks with two parties who are interested in buying a controlling stake of the club.
Reports have also emerged that Xia yesterday knocked back a bid from a European firm for a 51 per cent stake in the club.
That financial package would have met his requirements of investing £40million – but the Chinese owner opted to turn it down.
Alongside the two interested parties Xia is in talks with, it is also believed an American group has registered an interest in buying the club but is yet to make a bid.
With Villa's financial position remaining precarious, fan hopes of fresh investment were raised on Monday when documents on Companies House revealed the creation of nearly 70 million shares in the club's parent company, the Recon Group.
But the Express & Star understands the documents, dated May 25, refer to the re-capitalisation of existing debt and not represent new money coming into the club.
