Silver Lakes scores with $500m Manchester City investment

US private equity firm Silver Lake is to acquire a minority stake in City Football Group, the owner of Premier League champions Manchester City, in a $500.0m deal.

Under the terms of the deal, Silver Lake – a specialist in technology investments – will take a 10.0% stake, valuing CFG at $4.8bn, a new record for a sports group.

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CFG chairman, said: “Silver Lake is a global leader in technology investing, and we are delighted by the validation that their investment 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.”

CFG said the investment would be used to fund the growth of the business internationally and to develop “CFG technology and infrastructure assets”.

Earlier in November, Manchester City announced revenues had grown by 6.0% to hit a record £535.2m in the year to June 2019. That is expected rise even further in the current year, as payments from a lucrative new kit deal with Puma will start to take effect.

The club is now poised to overtake Manchester United as the UK’s wealthiest clubs. It posted revenues of £627.1m in the same period, but that it expected to fall in this year as the club failed to qualify for the Champions League.

As well as Manchester City, CFG holds stakes in various football clubs across the world, including America's New York City FC and Melbourne City Football Club in Australia.

Alongside Silver Lake's newly-acquired 10% holding, around 12% of CFG is owned by a consortium of Chinese investors. The rest is controlled by the ultra wealthy Sheikh Mansour, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi and the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.