London (CNN Business) US private equity giant Silver Lake is investing $500 million in the owner of Manchester City, a deal that values the soccer group at nearly $5 billion and signals a concerted move by the veteran tech investors into sports. Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Silver Lake will buy just over 10% of City Football Group, which is controlled by United Arab Emirates royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In addition to the English Premier League champions Manchester City, the soccer group owns teams in the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Spain and Uruguay. CFG said it was worth $4.8 billion as a consequence of the deal, a record valuation for a soccer franchise, according to the consultancy Brand Finance. "Within world football, this is almost certainly the largest ever sports enterprise valuation," said Bryn Anderson, director of sports services at Brand Finance.

Source: CNN November 27, 2019 11:48 UTC