Manchester City owner scores $4.8 billion price tag with
stake sale
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[November 27, 2019] By
Paul Sandle and Sudip Kar-Gupta
LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Manchester City's
Abu Dhabi-controlled owner has agreed to sell a $500 million stake to
U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, making it the world's most
valuable soccer group with a $4.8 billion price tag.
Tech-focused Silver Lake will buy just over 10% of City Football Group (CFG),
which owns reigning English Premier League champions Manchester City and
teams in the United States, Australia and China, the companies said on
Wednesday.
The investment crowns a rags to riches story for Manchester City, which
spent much of the 1990s in the doldrums but broke into the big league of
world soccer with the help of Middle Eastern cash.
Europe's top soccer clubs have drawn in big money from some of the
world's richest investors over the last decade, as the game attracts
more fans in lucrative markets such as Asia, the United States and the
Middle East.
Chinese investors paid $400 million for a 13% stake in CFG four years
ago, valuing the group at $3 billion at that time.
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Man City's big domestic rival Manchester United <MANU.N> are majority
owned by the American Glazer family and are valued at $2.8 billion <MANU.N>.
Chelsea are owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, while
America's Fenway Sports Group controls current European champions
Liverpool and French champions Paris Saint Germain are owned by Qatar
Sports Investments.
"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," CFG Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said.
CFG, which also owns or part owns New York City FC, Melbourne City FC,
Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, Club Atletico Torque in Uruguay, Girona FC
in Spain and Sichuan Jiuniu FC in China, said none of its shareholders
were selling stakes.
Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment vehicle owned by Sheikh Mansour
bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will remain the majority CFG shareholder with a
stake of around 77% after the deal.
It is relatively rare for private equity firms to buy into soccer
because they want a relatively quick return and while clubs make their
money from lucrative broadcasting rights, their fortunes still depend on
their success on the field.
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![](../images/112719pics/busine29.jpg)
Soccer Football -
Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester City - The
American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - May 12, 2019
Manchester City players pose with the trophy as they celebrate
winning the Premier League Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley
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Silver Lake Managing Director Egon Durban, who will join CFG's board, said the
California-based firm's investment would "help drive the next phase of CFG's
growth in the fast-growing premium sports and entertainment content market".
Silver Lake owns stakes in entertainment and sport talent agencies group
Endeavor and global sports agency IMG.
(GRAPHIC: City Football Group ownership -
https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/
gfx/mkt/12/9205/9117/man%20city%20chart.png )
TURNING THE TABLES
Although City were champions of England in 1968, the club were heavily
overshadowed by local rivals Manchester United and fell into the third tier of
English soccer in 1998.
The team were a mid-table Premier League side when they were purchased by the
Abu Dhabi Group in 2008.
Within four years, City won the Premier League, their first top-flight title in
44 years, and Spaniard Pep Guardiola, appointed manager in 2016, guided the club
to a second straight title and a domestic treble of trophies last season.
But City have yet to achieve their goal of winning Europe's most prestigious
prize, the Champions League.
And an investigation by European soccer's governing body UEFA into alleged
breaches of Financial Fair Play rules could potentially see the team barred from
the competition.
Aside from Man City, CFG's most notable investment was to create New York City
FC, a Major League Soccer franchise which plays at Yankee Stadium, home of the
New York Yankees baseball team.
Man City, whose squad includes England's Raheem Sterling, Belgium's Kevin De
Bruyne and Argentina's Sergio Aguero, reported record 2018-19 revenue of 535.2
million pounds ($687 million) in a fifth consecutive year of profitability.
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(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Paul Sandle, James Davey and Simon Evans; editing
by Peter Rutherford/Jason Neely/Guy Faulconbridge/Alexander Smith)
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