A group of Chinese investors have paid 400 million U.S. dollars for a minority stake in the company that owns Manchester City, one of England's top premiership clubs, it was announced Tuesday.
City Football Group said the sale of the 13 percent holding to "high profile" Chinese institutions, which include China Media Capital Holdings - a leading media and sports business - values the group at 2 billion U.S.dollars.
The deal comes just weeks after China's President Xi Jinping visited Manchester City's Etihad Stadium during his state visit to Britain.
A statement on Manchester City's official website said: "The deal will create an unprecedented platform for the growth of CFG clubs and companies in China and internationally, borne out of CFG's ability to provide a wealth of industry expertise and resources to the rapidly developing Chinese football industry."
It is the first time since the transformational Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 that there has been a change in the group's shareholder base.
As well as owning Manchester City, the City Football Group also owns clubs in the U.S., Australia, and Japan.
Today's statement added: "The announcement follows more than six months of discussions among the parties to find the optimum model and associated strategies for the partnership."
CFG said the cash from the share acquisition will be used by City Football Group to fund its China growth, further its international business expansion opportunities and further develop CFG infrastructure assets.
The statement added: "The CFG/CMC partnership is predicated on the opportunity to create new value for CFG in China and beyond by working with CMC, CITIC Capital and the Chinese football industry."
The deal will see new shares issued in City Football Group in addition to the ones held by the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), the investment and development company privately owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Prior to this Chinese investment the Sheikh was the sole shareholder of City Football Group.
The consortium of Chinese investors will be represented on the board of City Football Group Holding Company by Li Ruigang, chairman of China Media Capital.
