AKIPRESS.COM - A Kazakh-born property mogul has emerged as the “front-runner” to buy Aston Villa, The Independent can reveal.

Aston Villa were formally put up for sale by their American owner, Randy Lerner, earlier this month and are expected to fetch at least £250m.

The Independent understands from a source involved in the bidding race that Tevfik Arif, founder of New York-based property firm Bayrock Group and a business associate of US billionaire Donald Trump is a “front-runner”.

The source said: “There are around six to eight interested parties and he is the front-runner. Arif and his family are serious contenders.”

If successful, he would be the first Kazakh owner of a Premier League club, although Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich owns Chelsea and Uzbekistan’s Alisher Usmanov is a major shareholder in the FA Cup winners Arsenal. Villa will need an owner with deep pockets after losing £52m in the year to May 2013.

Buying Villa would not be Arif’s first investment in the football world. In July last year, he was named by Bloomberg as an investor in Doyen Capital, a London-based hedge fund which has bought stakes in leading players such as Monaco’s Radamel Falcao – effectively betting on rising future transfer fees – in return for loans to cash-strapped clubs.

It would also extend the links between Kazakhstan and the UK. Prince Andrew has made frequent visits and former prime minister Tony Blair has advised the country’s autocratic president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.