PARIS, Nov 27 — Private equity firm Silver Lake has agreed to make a US$500 million (RM2 billion) equity investment into the owners of English football champions Manchester City, valuing the Premier League club’s owner at US$4.8 billion.

Silver Lake will buy just over 10 per cent of Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group (CFG), which owns Manchester City, the companies said on Wednesday, confirming an earlier report in the Financial Times.

Europe’s top football clubs have drawn in big money from some of the world’s richest oligarchs 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 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 per cent.

Earlier this month, Man City’s annual report showed it had drawn in record revenue of £535.2 million in a fifth consecutive year of profitability over 2018-19. — Reuters