Billionaire pair Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have been the owners of Aston Villa since July 2018. Dr Tony Xia sold the Birmingham natives to their NSWE group after his two-year reign.
Sawiris and Edens’ NSWE group control the ownership of Aston Villa through the claret-and-blue club’s holding company, V Sports. While their tenure at Villa Park turned around a club facing a liquidity crisis with Xia. The Chinese businessman left the Villans in a financial mess.
When did Sawiris and Edens become the owners of Aston Villa?
Xia ended his reign at Aston Villa in July 2018 as Sawiris and Edens became the Villans’ new owners. Their NSWE group paid the Chinese businessman an initial £30m for a 55% stake in the Birmingham club. But they later paid an additional £30m in May 2019 and removed Xia.
Sawiris and Edens provided an additional sum one year into their tenure to pay Xia’s debts to Aston Villa’s previous owner Randy Lerner. While the NSWE group also injected an extra £4m after buying the initial 55% stake to cover a missed tax bill that could have meant liquidation.
The NSWE group injected a further £56.5m into Aston Villa in May 2019 when it bought Villa Park. Sawiris and Edens bought the Villans’ iconic home off the club under NSWE Stadium LTD. It was a dormant shell company, Aston Villa LTD, before they renamed it in March 2019.
Yet despite Sawiris and Edens buying Villa Park from the club, Aston Villa still posted £69m losses for the 2018/19 season. The figure would have been much greater without the sale of Villa Park. It may have even breached the EFL’s financial profit and sustainability regulations.
Sawiris and Edens have continued to inject millions upon millions into Aston Villa since they became the club’s owners, too. The NSWE group has funded a host of club-record transfers, including swoops worth up to £33m for Ollie Watkins and up to £40m for Emiliano Buendia.
Aston Villa’s financial outlook was vastly different under Xia, who paid Lerner £76m in June 2016 to become Villa’s owner. Before the arrival of Sawiris and Edens, the Villans borrowed further cash against the sale of the club’s £4m-valued Brookvale staff car park in July 2018.
What have Aston Villa won with Sawiris and Edens as their owners?
Despite the riches that Sawiris and Edens have supplied since their NSWE group became the Villans’ owners, the club are still yet to add another major title to Aston Villa’s trophy record.
However, Sawiris and Edens oversaw Aston Villa return to the Premier League in 2019 to end their three-year hiatus. The Villans beat Derby County 2-1 in the Championship play-off final. Anwar El Ghazi and John McGinn delivered the Villans’ goals at Wembley under Dean Smith.
Sawiris and Edens also paid Villarreal £5.25m in October 2022 to trigger a release clause in Unai Emery’s contract. Aston Villa sought to appoint the Spaniard as their manager after the club fired Steven Gerrard. He would lead them back into Europe for the first time since 2010.
What other sports franchises do Sawiris and Edens own?
Sawiris and Edens oversee a number of business interests alongside being the sole owners of Aston Villa. The Villans’ holding company, V Sports, also owns shares in the Portuguese football club, Vitoria SC. But V Sports eased its stake in the Premier Liga club in June 2023.
Aston Villa had initially confirmed in February 2023 that V Sports had entered into a sale and purchase agreement over a 46% stake in Vitoria SC for €5.5m (£5m). But V Sports reduced its shareholding to 29% after giving 17% of the shares back to satisfy all UEFA regulations.
Sawiris also bought an initial 5% stake in Madison Square Garden Sports Corp in December 2020. His shareholding in the holding company that owns the New York Knicks and Rangers also increased to 6.3% in March 2021. It is his only other interest in sports than Aston Villa.
While Edens’ other sporting interest outside of being an owner of Aston Villa comes through Milwaukee Bucks. He bought them in April 2014 with Marc Lasry for $550m (£421m). Forbes cited the Bucks as the 15th-most valuable NBA outfit at $2.3bn (£1.7bn) in October 2022.
The New York Knicks were second in Forbes’ most valuable NBA tean list for 2022 at $6.1bn (£4.7bn). While Forbes ranked the Sawiris co-owned New York Rangers as the most valuable NHL side as of December 2022. Forbes put the New York Rangers’ value at $2.2bn (£1.7bn).
How much is Sawiris worth? What is Edens’ net worth?
Nassef Sawiris is a descendant of Egypt’s wealthiest family and Forbes cited his personal net worth at $7.2bn (£5.5bn) as of July 2023. He also ranked fifth among Africa’s billionaires, of which his brother is also. While his portfolio includes owning a stake of nearly 6% in Adidas.
Additionally, Sawiris is on Adidas’ supervisory board and runs OCI, one of the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer producers. But the Cairo resident predominantly built his fortune through construction. He also continues to have a shareholding in the cement giant, Lafarge Holcim.
As for Wes Edens, Forbes cited his personal net worth at $3.4bn (£2.6bn) in July 2023. He was a co-founder of the asset management company Fortress Investment Group in 1998. It later changed hands in 2017 with Edens getting $500m (£383m) of a $3.3bn (£2.6bn) sale.
