Northampton Town Reaches Agreement with Alexandre Pato's Consortium

Northampton Town have confirmed they have reached an agreement with a consortium featuring former AC Milan, Chelsea and Brazil forward Alexandre Pato over a proposed shareholding deal in the League Two club.

The group, Sports Alpha Capital (SAC), has already cleared the major hurdles. Its proposed investment in the Cobblers received approval from both the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) and the English Football League (EFL) earlier this month, removing the biggest regulatory obstacles in one sweep.

Now the club say the finish line is in sight. In a statement, Northampton announced they expect to be “in a position to confirm completion of the process” next week.

“Football club transactions always have many moving parts and often take a little longer than you would hope, but we are thrilled to be moving forward,” said chairman Kelvin Thomas, underlining both the complexity of the deal and the club’s eagerness to get it over the line.

Joao Xavier, founding partner at SAC, struck a similarly upbeat tone. “We are very happy to have reached formal agreements,” he said. “Obviously obtaining IFR and EFL approvals was a big step, but this is also a very important milestone, and we look forward to closing next week.”

SAC are not strangers to the lower-league landscape. They held talks earlier this year over a possible takeover of Colchester United, only to walk away after initial discussions. This time, the talks with Northampton have pushed through to formal agreement and regulatory sign-off.

The size of SAC’s proposed shareholding in the Cobblers has not been disclosed, leaving questions over the exact scale of their influence once the deal completes.

What is clear is the profile of one of the investors. Pato, listed by SAC as one of its backers, sits alongside Gemcorp Capital, a London-based independent investment management firm, in the consortium.

Pato, 37, retired from playing last year. His name still carries weight in European football circles, built on a five-and-a-half-year spell at AC Milan in which he scored 63 goals in 150 matches and lifted the Serie A title in the 2010-11 season. Now his next chapter could unfold not under the San Siro lights, but in League Two, with a stake in Northampton Town and a very different kind of project ahead.