PARIS: US private equity firm Silver Lake has agreed to invest $500 million in the owners of English football champions Manchester City, valuing the Premier League club’s owner at $4.8 billion.
Silver Lake will buy just over 10 percent of Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group (CFG), which owns Manchester City, the companies said on Wednesday, confirming a report in the Financial Times newspaper.
Europe’s top football clubs have drawn in big money from some of the world’s richest investors over the last decade, as the game attracts more and more fans in lucrative markets such as Asia, the United States and the Middle East.
The clubs’ property portfolios are also often seen as lucrative assets.
Man City’s big domestic rival Manchester United are owned by the American Glazer family, while Chelsea is owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. French champions Paris Saint Germain are owned by Qatar Sports Investments.
“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,” City Football Group Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak said in a statement.
City Football Group said none of its existing shareholders were selling equity stakes as part of the Silver Lake deal.
It added that Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment vehicle owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, would remain the majority CFG shareholder with a stake of around 77 percent.
Man City this month reported record high 2018-19 revenue of £535.2 million ($687 million) in a fifth consecutive year of profitability.
Silver Lake Managing Director Egon Durban will join the board of City Football Group.
“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,” Durban said in a statement.
Manchester City spent much of the 1990s in the doldrums, often out of England’s top-flight league and far behind Manchester United, which remains England’s record league title holders with 20 championship titles.
However, the influx of Middle Eastern cash has since led to a revival in Man City’s fortunes.
The team, managed by former Barcelona man Pep Guardiola, won an unprecedented domestic treble last season — the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the League Cup.
Unlike Manchester United and Liverpool, however, Man City is yet to win Europe’s most prestigious title, the Champions League.
Abu Dhabi-based Man City owner draws $500m investment from private equity firm Silver Lake
Abu Dhabi-based Man City owner draws $500m investment from private equity firm Silver Lake
- Europe’s top football clubs have drawn in big money from some of the world’s richest investors over the last decade
- Man City this month reported record high 2018-2019 revenue of £535.2 million in a fifth consecutive year of profitability
Morocco part company with coach Regragui as World Cup looms
RABAT: Morocco parted company with coach Walid Regragui on Thursday, three months before the World Cup, with the country’s football federation naming Mohamed Ouahbi as his replacement.
Regragui leaves despite having led the Atlas Lions to the World Cup semifinals in 2022 and to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of this year.
“I leave my post with loyalty, gratitude, and the certainty that I have served my country,” he declared during a ceremony broadcast live on television, confirming weeks of persistent rumors that he was on his way out.
Ouahbi, 49, is promoted to the role having overseen Morocco’s triumph at the Under-20 World Cup in October, with the federation describing the move as “a strategic transition” in the run-up to the World Cup in North America in June and July.
“It’s a desire not to waste time and to take a different direction,” a source close to the Moroccan Federation told AFP.
“By appointing Mohamed Ouahbi and welcoming top-tier reinforcements, we are raising our standards and our demands,” the source said.
Morocco will be in Group C at the World Cup along with five-time winners Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
They begin their campaign against Brazil at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City on June 13 and will be hoping to make a big impression at the tournament before co-hosting the 2030 edition with Spain and Portugal.
“Our ambition is to consolidate our place among the best nations in a sustainable way and to perform well from this summer, as well as in 2030,” the leader of the Moroccan federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, said recently.
Regragui was hailed in 2022 after Morocco became the first African nation in World Cup history to reach the semifinals, beating Spain and Portugal along the way.
However, Regragui likely paid the ultimate price for the manner in which Morocco lost the recent AFCON final to Senegal.
His team were beaten 1-0 after extra-time at the end of a match marred by the Senegal team’s decision to walk off the pitch in protest at the award of a controversial late penalty to the hosts.
The penalty award with the game goalless sparked trouble in the crowd involving Senegal fans, 18 of whom were jailed following the disruption.
Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz eventually took the penalty after a long delay but his kick was saved and Senegal went on to win the game.
