Atairos slowly increase stake as Aston Villa ownership influence grows

Aston Villa owners NSWE agreed a partnership with investors Atairos last season and their stake in the club appears to be growing

Atairos, the minority shareholders in Aston Villa, have increased their stake in the club as millions more pounds continue to be invested and new shares created. It was announced this week that Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens - NSWE - had ploughed in another £50m to Villa, following on from their last injection in September.

It was announced back in December 2023 that Atairos, a strategic investment company, had entered into an agreement with V Sports - owned by Sawiris and Edens. Atairos’ capital investment were to be primarily used to fund growth and infrastructure investments, with the aim of creating material and sustainable value for Villa and the broader V Sports network. Atairos is said to be worth $6.5bn, and Villa claim the link-up positions them "firmly for an exciting next phase of growth."

The addition of four new directors to the Villa board was confirmed days after the key agreement was cemented. Sawiris and Edens confirmed the appointments of Atairos chairman and chief executive Michael Angelakis, managing director of Atairos Chester Hall, plus Canadian Bashir Lebada and American Sarah Watterson.

Rebuilding Aston Villa: The four people NSWE have tasked with taking club to next level

READ: Villa player ratings v Bolton as Mulley and Zych shine in memorable night

There has been a shift in the size of the stakes, since; while as of April this year Sawiris and Edens owned just shy of 40% of V Sports - including everything under the Villa umbrella - apiece, and Atairos owning the remainder (a little over 21%), the latter's influence has slowly grown as more shares have been released.

In August, Atairos' stake grew by 5%, now more than 26% in all, taking a little over 2.5% off each of Sawiris' and Edens' stake. With the further investment of £50m confirmed on Companies House this week, that has grown again - Atairos, as of now, own 31% of Villa, another jump of 4.5%. Sawiris and Edens now own a little under 70% of V Sports between them.

It means that, should the pattern continue to develop in such a way, Atairos are on course to be equal investors in V Sports - the holding company which has a stake in Vitoria in Portugal and has partnerships with ZED in Egypt, Vissel Kobe in Japan and Real Union in Spain - with Sawiris and Edens.

What do you make of the development? Have your say HERE

The latest Villa headlines sent straight to your phone

Join our Aston Villa WhatsApp group and get the latest breaking news, interviews and opinion sent straight to your phone, plus matchday team news and live updates of all the action. Just click on this link and select ‘Join Community’ to get started. The only proviso is that you must have WhatsApp on your phone to participate. It's a free service. No one will be able to see your personal information and you will only receive messages from our Villa writers.

We will not spam your WhatsApp feed with constant messages, but you will receive updates from us daily with the latest Villa news. If you later decide to opt out, just go to the name at the top of your screen and click 'Exit Group'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. Click here to read our Privacy Notice