Man City owners flog record-breaking 389m stake to US private equity firm Silver Lake

MANCHESTER CITYS owners have sold a record-breaking 389million stake to US private equity firm Silver Lake.

Reports on Wednesday morning suggested Sheikh Mansour has agreed to part with a 10 per cent share in the City Football Group.

That puts the value of the CFG which is made up of six clubs at 3.7bn and takes it ahead of all other sports groups in the world.

Manchester United are currently valued at 2.18bn, while basketball team the Brooklyn Nets sit at 1.8 bn.

City chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak is believed to have signed the agreement with Egon Durban of Silver Lake on Saturday.

The pair then sat together at the Etihad as the English champions beat Chelsea 2-1.

City’s cash injection should help the group to acquire more clubs, with India believed to be next on their radar.

As well as Manchester, they currently have clubs in New York, Melbourne, Spain, Uruguay, China and Japan.

Silver Lake made its name investing in technology companies such as Alibaba, Dell and Skype.

More recently it has moved into entertainment by buying into UFC and Hollywood talent agency Endeavor.

Reports say they approached other English and European clubs including Chelsea before deciding on City.

They are believed to have been attracted by the money being paid out for media rights by broadcasters and internet groups.

The new investors are believed to be aware of the threat of a Champions League ban which is currently hovering over City.

A Uefa hearing into whether they broke financial fair play rules is expected to be heard next month.

It would be hugely costly to the club to be out of the competition for a year but they will hope to avoid such a penalty.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin was a guest of Khaldoon at the match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night.

His visit came amid reports that relations between City are Uefa are beginning to thaw.