Manchester City Parent Group Gets £265M Investment from Chinese Consortium

City Football Group (CFG), the parent company for Premier League side Manchester City, has announced an investment of $400 million (£265 million) from a consortium of Chinese businesses.

City confirmed the investment, led by a company known as CMC (China Media Capital) Holdings, on their official website on Tuesday. It’s a deal that will see CMC take a 13 per cent stake in CFG, the holding company of which Manchester City, New York City FC and Melbourne City are subsidiaries.

In the statement from City, it’s noted there have been six months of discussions between the parties. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who is the chairman of CFG and the English club, welcomed the agreement between the two parties, per the aforementioned piece:

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Football is the most loved, played and watched sport in the world and in China, the exponential growth pathway for the game is both unique and hugely exciting.  

We have therefore worked hard to find the right partners and to create the right deal structure to leverage the incredible potential that exists in China, both for CFG and for football at large.

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OLI SCARFF/Getty Images

As reported by Paul Britton and Simon Coyle of the Manchester Evening News, president of China Xi Jinping visited Manchester in October and was given a tour of City’s stellar facilities at the Etihad Stadium. There are also burgeoning links between the city and China, with a direct flight being announced between Manchester and Beijing recently.

Ian Herbert, the chief sportswriter for the Independent, explained some other implications of the agreement, noting CMC is a company with plenty of clout:

“Football is now at a fascinating and critical stage of development in China,” said CMC chairman Li Ruigang in the statement. “We see unprecedented growth opportunities in both its development as an industry, being China’s most watched sport, and its inspirational role bringing people of all ages together with a shared passion.”

It’s certainly a market with huge potential for CFG. As Li noted, the sport is growing in popularity in China all the time, and the links established between CFG and CMC will only serve to enhance the reputation of clubs under the banner in the country.

Joe Giddens/Associated Press

As Rob Harris of the Press Association also noted, the effects of this deal are already revealing themselves:

With subsidiaries in four different continents already—Japanese top-flight team Yokohama F. Marinos are also under the CFG umbrella—it’s clear they are seeking to reach out and exploit worldwide markets.

For the Premier League side, having such a broad network overseeing them can only be a good thing. As the organisation continues to grow, so too will their brand, and while City may not have as rich a history as a lot of English football’s elite outfits, they have a more exciting future than any other.