Wednesday 2 December 2015 06:31, UK
Manchester City's parent company have announced a £265m Chinese investment, but what does it mean for the Premier League club?
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval in some territories, values the group at almost £2bn in total.
Does it mean Manchester City can go out and splash the cash on Lionel Messi? And have other major European clubs missed a trick? Football finance expert David Bick lends us a hand in explaining the deal...
Give us the cold, hard news...
Manchester City's parent company City Football Group have announced a deal which will see a consortium of Chinese institutional investors take a stake of just over 13 per cent in the group.
The consortium of CMC (China Media Capital) Holdings and CITIC Capital are to invest £265m (US$400m) in City Football Group, the holding company which oversees Manchester City and their affiliated clubs, which include Melbourne City and New York City.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval in some territories, values the group at almost £2bn ($3bn) in total.
What does this mean for City?
Sheikh Mansour has sold his 13 per cent stake in the club's parent company for £265m, around the same amount he bought the entire club for six years ago, showing the progress the Manchester club have made since 2009.
And Bick did not play down the importance of the deal while speaking to Sky Sports News HQ: "This is heavyweight cash investment from heavyweight investors.
"This I'd say is one of the most remarkable financial deals I have seen in football."
Who are China Media Capital?
China Media Capital are a state-backed firm investing in culture, technology, media, entertainment and consumer markets, and secured the (£860m) $1.3bn broadcast rights for the Chinese football league last year.
Bick said: "China Media Capital own a number of the major sports rights in China, including the Super League, their national teams and the University league.
"CITIC is a serious investment manager looking after money for major financial institutions in China and elsewhere."
What about the rest of the pack?
Bick is convinced City have stolen a march on their rivals with this deal, and could go some way to pulling them well away from Chelsea and Arsenal in the Forbes list of most value football clubs.
As of May 2015, Manchester City were ranked the fifth most-valuable club (£905m), behind Real Madrid (£2.13bn), Barcelona (£2.07bn), Manchester United (£2.03bn) and Bayern Munich (£1.54bn).
United are now thought to be only just ahead of City Football Group, who take in NYCFC, Melbourne City and a minority share in Yokohama F Marinos.
Bick said: "It is major investment, it catapults the valuation of the whole group, and obviously Manchester City are a big part of that, to an amount that is beginning to run alongside Manchester United.
"Apart from the financial investment, which is geared to direct investment in China, I would think this is going to give Manchester City major exposure in China.
"I think they have blind-sided the other major clubs with this deal."
