Alexandre Pato Consortium Nears Northampton Town Stake Acquisition

A forward who once lit up the San Siro is now heading for Sixfields.

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

Sports Alpha Capital (SAC), the investment group fronting the move, had its proposed deal approved by both the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) and the English Football League (EFL) earlier this month. The regulatory hurdles are cleared. The paperwork is almost there.

In a statement, Northampton said they expect to be “in a position to confirm completion of the process” next week, signalling that only the final formalities now stand between the Cobblers and a new era of ownership involvement.

Club chairman Kelvin Thomas acknowledged the complexity of the process but underlined the sense of progress, saying 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.”

The mood is similar in the SAC camp. Joao Xavier, founding partner at Sports Alpha Capital, described the agreement as a key step, noting that while IFR and EFL approvals marked a major moment, this formal agreement represents another important milestone as they “look forward to closing next week.”

SAC are not strangers to the lower reaches of the English pyramid. Earlier this year, they held talks over a potential takeover of Colchester United, only to walk away after initial discussions. This time, the talks have advanced to the brink of completion.

The group’s investor list gives the Northampton deal a notable sheen. Pato is named by SAC as one of its backers, alongside Gemcorp Capital, a London-based independent investment management firm. The exact size of SAC’s proposed shareholding in the Cobblers has not been disclosed, leaving the scale of their influence still to be revealed.

For Pato, 37, it marks another step in his post-playing career. He retired last year after a journey that took him from Brazil to Italy, England and beyond, but it was at AC Milan where he truly made his name. Across five and a half years at San Siro, he scored 63 goals in 150 matches and helped Milan win the Serie A title in the 2010-11 season.

Now his next chapter could unfold in League Two boardrooms rather than Champions League nights. Northampton, chasing stability and growth in an increasingly competitive lower-league landscape, are about to discover what that combination of capital and star power really means for the club’s future.