Manchester City FC: Chinese consortium acquires 13% stake in City Football Group for €377m

A Chinese consortium, consisting of CMC (China Media Capital) and CITIC Capital Holdings, has acquired just over a 13% stake in CFG (City Football Group) for $400m (€377m on 01/12/2015), announced the holding company and owner of Manchester City FC (Barclays Premier League), on 01/12/2015. The transaction values CFG at $3bn (€2.83bn).

In addition to Manchester City, CFG holds between a 70% and 75% stake in New York City FC (MLS), 80% of Melbourne Heart FC (Hyundai A-League), 20% of Yokohama F Marinos (J.League), a sales subsidiary Singapore and another in China.

CMC is a Chinese investment fund specialising in the cultural industry, media and new technologies. It is headed by Ruigang Li, who was previously president, until January 2015, of the public company SMG (Shanghai Media Group), the main shareholder of CMC and parent company of Shanghai Oriental Pearl Digital Co. Ltd. SMG notably holds, in China, the pay-TV channel Great Sports Channel and the IPTV channel BesTV.

CMC and Ruigang Li will represent the consortium on the board of directors of City Football Group.

• China Media…