Dr. Tony Xia.

We've seen ourselves that it's very difficult to find info out about Chinese individuals and companies. Our search engines don't find out much at all due to what's almost a great firewall of China around them. You would hope that over months and months of due diligence and deal making the club will be able to find details and have access to information that fans and journos won't in a couple of days of searching.

I've been looking further into the RECON GROUP (Joint Rui Kang) It very much appears to me that they primarily work FOR the Chinese Government and State Council. I've linked ot two URL's on their site, the first explains how they work, the work they actually do and it's all jointly with the Government. It explains the finance streams they are involved in and links to state funding (which is A LOT) even have one for Sports, as well as Mergers and Acquisitions. This is the bigger picture that I think Hollis and Co could be aware of. We're basically looking at a RECON Group project backed by the government, just another branch of all the regeneration and growth they are already doing jointly with the State.

www.reconig.com/htm/49.htm

The second is a diagram of the RECON Group by way of a tree and all the businesses involved in the group, with links to some of their websites.

http://www.reconig.com/htm/jtzppjhzhb.htm

For me this adds more weight to things being a little brighter than one newspaper report. There is masses of information on that site, you just need to let google translate. The government runs right through the Group/Conglomerate. Have a read and decide for yourself, but I think we're looking at a Government backed project here and Dr Xia is the chosen frontman. Incidentally the President and Vice president have both visited the Group in recent months.

We're all focusing on the 5 PLC's as that's what was in the PR release, but it appears to only scratch the surface of a substantial Conglomerate. Fingers crossed anyway.

is it weird that there no news of them buying villa on there website?

The OS has changed the press release and taken out the owns 5 PLC on the stock exchange to this..

"Recon Group is a multinational conglomerate group led by Dr. Tony Jiantong Xia. The group holding company owns, directly and indirectly, the shares of several publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges and many other private companies employing 35,000 people in 75 countries"

Doesn't appear they see it as a big problem. Back to my point about the Conglomerate and the Chinese Government. Here's hoping..

lukevilla wrote:is it weird that there no news of them buying villa on there website?

Possbily so, could just be they are waiting to have the deal ratified by the Football League (possibly the Premier league too as we're still part of them until Early June) The purchase was leaked in China so I think they had to rush out a press release (may explain the error too) I think we will just have to sit and wait to see how this unravels. I would just remain reasonably optimistic that it is China we're talking about and a nation desperate to get involved in English football and on the verge of being the first English club they own, they won't let this be a dodgy deal (I wouldn't have thought) it could derail all they have and are trying to do.

i just typed recon into google, got a shock and a half when i saw what the 1st website was

Oh and as for The Birds nest bit, the RECON Group have a company called XWHO, they were responsible for the 2008 Bejing Olympic Forest Park and urban area surrounding the stadium, possibly what Hollis was referring too. Here's a bit of info, the link is in Chinese, but I've highlighted the relevant bit.

http://biz.zjol.com.cn/05biz/system/2005/07/19/006240659_01.shtml

"In recent years, XWHO presided over numerous consecutive influence a wide range of design projects, including the 2008 Beijing Olympic Forest Park and the central area of ??landscape design, Hollywood Hengdian experimental zone planning, etc., involved in urban planning, campus planning, real estate development planning, landscape design, fields of architectural design, development of tourism resources planning and design, industrial park planning and design, has won the China, the United States and many other international awards, and became the first (two) won the "foreign investment for urban planning services qualification approved by the Ministry of construction certificate "foreign design unit."

lukevilla wrote:i just typed recon into google, got a shock and a half when i saw what the 1st website was

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that NOT part of the Dr Xia's buisness hahaha!!

A good read this on Dr Xia

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c45c9ac45b404d238b1ffc0233bdb0fb/villa-owner-wants-team-promoted-and-help-soccer-china-0

BEIJING (AP) — The little-known businessman who bought Aston Villa is hoping to improve both the English club and Chinese soccer in general.

Xia Jiantong, who goes by the English name Tony, told The Associated Press he intends to use cutting-edge management theory and sports science to bring Villa to the pinnacle of the European game — and then bring those lessons back to China.

"In China's going-out strategy, it's been proven that buying foreign firms with know-how and then bringing that back to the domestic industry has been the most efficient route," Xia said, adding that he would establish extensive programs for Chinese players to train at Aston Villa.

Improving Chinese soccer, he said, "is actually our biggest objective."


Xia bought Aston Villa, which was relegated from the Premier League after a dismal season in which they finished last, for $87 million. He denied that the deal involved any government or corporate backers aside from his business conglomerate, the Recon Group.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently urged the country to become a global soccer superpower and several high-profile firms have bought stakes in clubs, including Atletico Madrid and Manchester City. But until now, no one had acquired entire clubs.

To help improve the game in China, Xia said he is already in talks to bring junior high and high school players to train in Birmingham this summer.

A soft-spoken businessman who studied at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Xia heads the Recon Group, which owns Lotus Health Group, the world's second largest maker of the food additive monosodium glutamate. Lotus lost $78 million last year, according to Shanghai stock exchange filings. Another subsidiary produces digital hardware for urban infrastructure.

Xia said he considered eight prospective clubs, including teams in Spain and Italy, before settling on Villa, which he said attracted him with its "mature" academy system.

He said he pledged to deploy better technology to monitor players' on-field performance, track statistics and gauge physical workloads to minimize injuries — areas in which he said other clubs he visited performed better than Villa. He also intended to use data to award financial bonuses to players.

"This isn't different from management science," Xia said in one of several allusions to his business experience.

He compared Aston Villa to an undervalued business suffering from "several years of substandard management" and could achieve its potential with better direction from the top.

Questioned about his lack of soccer credentials, Xia said he has looked into the business for 10 years and has diligently studied the second-tier English Championship, the league in which Aston Villa will compete in next season.

"I actually think I have better foundation in football than other business areas we've recently entered," Xia said.

He targeted a swift return to the Premier League but ruled out "burning money" to bring success like Manchester City, whose Qatari owners have pumped in millions. Although he has publicly stated he would spend 50 to 60 million pounds on player transfers, Xia backed away from the figures on Friday, saying he would consult with the new coach he was in the process of hiring.

"We want Villa in its genes to be sustainable and healthy, including in academy development," Xia said. "If you look at all the money-burning clubs they're showing problems right now. On the international level, Spain and Germany couldn't sustain their success with just one superstar."

Xia said he is now down to three final coaching candidates — one of whom is believed to be former Chelsea manager Robert Di Matteo — but declined to comment, saying he would announce the selection next week.

After hiring someone, Xia said his first order of business will be to fix the atmosphere around the relegated club.

"This year, Spurs were so good until they lost the chance for the title and lost to a relegated team," he said. "So in sport, it's crucial to consider spirit, psychology, leaders' attitudes. Especially for Villa now, the biggest priority for us is to fix everyone's confidence, from the players to the coaches."

lukevilla wrote:http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c45c9ac45b404d238b1ffc0233bdb0fb/villa-owner-wants-team-promoted-and-help-soccer-china-0

Ha, you just beat me to it Luke Great minds.

RECON Group subsidiaries:

Link to said photo http://www.reconig.com/htm/jtzppjhzhb.htm you can click on links to various companies from there

More from http://www.reconig.com/htm/50.htm from recent news and media section. Signed a joint Health partnership with Elephant Group from South Korea specific article here: http://www.reconig.com/htm/50.htm

Just showing that there is info out there as it's been said many times on Twitter NO info exists on Dr Xia or the RECON Group. The website mentions Venture capital, being a Capital management group and lots of stuff about Government and state funding.

Joint Rui Kang:
RECON (United Rui Kang) is a multinational group, founded in 1963 in the United States, in 1999 the headquarters moved to Beijing, China, has rapidly developed into a globally active industrial and economic wisdom Capital Management Group. Wisdom of the city's total, agricultural health, wisdom, transport and logistics and new energy, wisdom and cultural tourism, engineering and design, innovative financial platform for six major industries, 22 hundred independent brands and independent operating companies in 75 countries more than 25,000 employees. Holding Chinese A shares and overseas listed companies and five shares of more than a dozen industry ecosystem-related companies, asset size of over 100 billion.

About Lotus Health (600 186):
Original "Lotus Gourmet Powder", founded in 1983, is a famous Chinese agricultural enterprises, has been occupied by Chinese MSG production and export market first, long-term industry occupies a dominant position in the Chinese market, household consumption, the Ministry of Agriculture and other ministries 8 Audited the first batch of agricultural industrialization leading enterprises, in 1998 in Shanghai a shares listed on the Stock exchange, in January 2016 officially changed its name to "health industry Co., Ltd. Henan Lianhua" transformation into amino acids and bio-genetic technology advantages extending the development of innovative condiment business, to create a "source of health products, food safety and nutrition detection management system, land system of ecological plant nutrition, integrated intelligence agricultural production systems, agricultural finance innovation, nutrition and health products C2B platform, integrated health service system." the "seven lotus" as the core of the wisdom of agricultural industrial chain and large health industry ecosystem.

Thanks for your research, GM, certainly made me a bit less concerned following a couple of less than rosy reports.

Sandie wrote:Thanks for your research, GM, certainly made me a bit less concerned following a couple of less than rosy reports.

Cheers, not saying it proves anything one way or another, just that there is info out there and he is clearly part of something fairly substantial and not a guy who has an involvement in one failed company and a liar that he is being made out to be. Villa have amended the statement and also SSN picked up on the FT article and said that their 'sources' who they'd spoken to at Villa said it was a misunderstanding due to differences in terminology in Chinese business as opposed to UK, however they're not concerned and it doesn't effect the deal in anyway and there won't be any reason to fail the fit and proper test, pretty much that anyway.

So many fans today have been very quick to write this guy off and maybe in time, that 'could' prove to be wise, but right now, one or two articles doesn't make him a crook or a liar/blagger. Also they're now on record as saying that they have a majority stake in one and are soon to be finalising the other 4, these are businesses listed on the Stock Exchange, they can't just say that if it's not true and would be in big trouble with the Chinese government at a time when all eyes will be on them and they rely on the government and state for most if not all their business. To engage in a deal that was in anyway dodgy at a time when the Chinese are really targeting Football as their next big venture would be obscenely stupid. It seems to me this guy is liked by the Government, was a child prodigy etc and sent abroad, has since come back and done a lot in partnership with the state and perhaps been encouraged to make this move with their backing, be it financial or by way of government approval that will yield finances indirectly for other ventures, which in turn will pay for this and future investment. That makes sense having read a lot of their background today, far more so than a dodgy Chinese guy trying to blag a football club in a age where football and corruption is under massive scrutiny.

The next week or two will make things a lot clearer I'm sure...UTV