Private equity firm Silver Lake has increased its stake in City Football Group (CFG) to 14.5%, according to the Financial Times (FT).
The US-based company will become the second largest shareholder of the ownership group which owns the likes of Manchester City, Melbourne City, Lommel SK, Troyes AC and Palermo among others.
The Silicon Valley-based company reportedly acquired a 4.1 per cent share in CFG from China Media Capital (CMC), which retains an 8.2 per cent share. Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) remains the largest shareholder with just over 75 per cent.
Silver Lake initially invested in CFG back in 2019, taking just over 10% in a $748 million deal which valued the group at $7.1 billion.
Since its initial CFG outlay, Silver Lake has made several notable sports investments, including New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and Australian soccer’s A-Leagues, as well as buying Endeavor’s Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH).
English champions Manchester City have also made several commercial strides since Silver Lake’s first involvement with the club reporting a record revenue of $970.4 million for the 2020/21 season.
City were also ranked as the highest earning club in the world for the first time in the latest Deloitte Football Money League.
Silver Lake bought into City Football Group after Hollywood impresario Ari Emanuel – founder of Endeavor – introduced managing partner Egon Durban to CFG’s Khaldoon al-Mubarak.
The private equity firm has formed deep ties with Abu Dhabi. Mubarak is chief executive of Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi sovereign investment fund that took a stake in Silver Lake in 2020. The following year, Silver Lake paid approximately $1.1 billion AUD for a stake in G42, an artificial intelligence and cloud computing group with links to Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.
China Media Capital still owns 8.2 per cent of CFG, having originally paid $726 million to amass a 13% stake. That investment, which valued CFG at $4.4 billion, came after China’s president Xi Jinping visited Manchester City’s football academy in 2015.
Under CFG ownership, Manchester City has won the English Premier League five times and this year overtook rivals to top Deloitte’s annual ranking of the highest revenue-generating football clubs in the world.
