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Arsenal hero Tony Adams planning Aston Villa takeover bid

Former Arsenal defender and Portsmouth manager Tony Adams signed a three-year deal to coach ex-Soviet republic Azerbaijan side Gabala FC
Image: Tony Adams: Linked with Aston Villa takeover

Sky News understands that former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams and a former Chelsea executive are seeking financial backing for a takeover bid for Aston Villa.

Sky News has learned that Adams has been working with Paul Smith, a former executive at Chelsea FC and IMG, the sports rights agency, on a possible £150m bid.

They have approached a number of private equity and other investment firms in recent weeks in an effort to raise approximately £75m in new equity to finance an offer for the club.

The remainder of the funding would probably be in the form of new debt, with a unit of Goldman Sachs understood to have been sounded out about providing the additional capital.

Adams and Smith are said to have formed a new company called Halo which they intend to use as a vehicle to acquire Aston Villa and minority stakes in other leading football clubs.

One City source said on Thursday that Portugal's Sporting Lisbon and Italy's Internazionale were among the other clubs in which Halo was likely to express an interest.

Brazil and Belgium are also among the national leagues that the vehicle was assessing, with Adams and Smith interested in establishing an international network that would create "a long supply chain of playing talent", a source said.

It is unclear whether they have yet secured financial backing for their plans.

Aston Villa have effectively been up for sale for more than a year, with Randy Lerner, the American tycoon who bought the club for just over £60m in 2008, keen to offload.

Last year, Lerner appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to handle an auction of Aston Villa, and dozens of parties are since said to have lodged an interest.

Lerner has ploughed millions of pounds into the West Midlands club, and after some initial success in the form of several top six Premier League finishes, Villa have fought a persistent battle against relegation.

Neither Adams nor Smith could be reached for comment, while BAML declined to comment.

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