LONDON AFP The parent company of Premier League champions Manchester City has been given a global record sports valuation of 3.73 billion ($4.8 billion) after US equity firm Silver Lake acquired just over 10 percent of the company on Wednesday.
Silver Lake have signed a definitive agreement to make a 389 million ($500 million) investment in City Football Group (CFG).
CFG, which has a stake in seven football clubs globally, including in the US, Australia, Japan and China, already has 12 percent of its equity held by a consortium of Chinese institutional investors led by Chinese media and entertainment conglomerate CMC Inc.
California-based Silver Lake has moved into entertainment in recent years after being primarily known for investing in technology companies such as Alibaba, Dell and Skype.
CFG chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a statement the investment would help the company grow. “We and Silver Lake share the strong belief in the opportunities being presented by the convergence of entertainment, sports and technology and the resulting ability for CFG to generate long-term growth and new revenue streams globally.”
Abu Dhabi United Group, which has poured hundreds of millions of pounds into City since buying the club in 2008 from Thai businessman Thaksin Shinawatra, remains the majority CFG shareholder with around 77 percent of the company, according to Silver Lake.