Lerner completes Aston Villa takeover

Randy Lerner completed his takeover of Aston Villa after his shareholdings of the club exceeded 90 percent.

Lerner is set to exercise his right to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares as soon as possible. He was officially installed as chairman of Aston Villa on Sept. 19 after Doug Ellis vacated the role.

Ellis, 82, who has been associated with the Midlands outfit since 1968, will be given an honorary presidency role. Ellis was chairman from 1968 to 1975 and then again from 1982 until last week.

"Accordingly, Ral has today issued notices under Schedule 2 to the Takeovers Directive (Interim Implementation) Regulations 2006 to those Aston Villa shareholders who have not already accepted the offer, informing them that it now intends to exercise its rights to acquire compulsorily all the Aston Villa shares outstanding at the expiry of the requisite notice period. In the meantime, the offer remains open for acceptance."

General Charles C. Krulak, Bob Kain and Michael Martin are Villa's new non-executive directors.

The club also announced that Steve Stride will remain as an executive director on the board. "Mr Ellis told us it was his last game but he will always be around the club," Villa keeper Thomas Sorensen said after a 0-0 draw with Watford on Sept. 16.

"He means a lot to Aston Villa and should always have an honorary place in the stadium for the rest of his life."

Lerner, the owner of American football team the Cleveland Browns, has already been busy planning Villa's future. He is hoping to line-up a GBP 100 million sponsorship deal by Christmas, which will provide manager Martin O'Neill with further funds for players alongside Lerner's own capital.

Lerner is also set to bring in a chief executive to handle the day-to-day running of Villa - a post that has been vacant since Bruce Langham resigned in May 2005.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.