Manchester City holding company City Football Group (CFG) has announced a £389-million investment from American private equity firm Silver Lake.
The deal values CFG, which has a stake in seven clubs across the world, at £3.73b and gives Silver Lake a stake of around 10%.
CFG chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: ‘Silver Lake is a global leader in technology investing, and we are delighted by both the validation that their investment in CFG represents, and the opportunities for further growth that their partnership brings.
‘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.’
Egon Durban, managing director of Silver Lake, will represent the technology investors on the CFG board.
He said of the partnership: ‘We are excited to invest in CFG, which is redefining football globally and in doing so has successfully built an impressive global platform of marquee football clubs across five continents.
‘We greatly respect CFG’s stewardship of more than a century of football tradition and the strong global fanbases of its clubs.
‘We are excited to partner with the board and CFG’s world-class management team to help drive the next phase of CFG’s growth in the fast-growing premium sports and entertainment-content market.’