City Football Group Reportedly Adding Brazilian Team to Portfolio

Manchester City owner City Football Group has reportedly made an offer of around $190 million to acquire Brazilian soccer club Esporte Clube Bahia.

The deal is reportedly for a 90% stake in the team, with an option to add another 5%. Sports Illustrated reported last week that pending legal documents that make it official, the deal is done.

• Bahia president Guilherme Bellintani previously told Brazilian media the deal was valued at $126.4 million. 
• The Serie B team reportedly has a good chance of being promoted to the top division this season.

The news comes just over a year since a law passed allowing Brazilian soccer clubs to seek outside investments.

CFG now has full or partial stakes in 12 soccer clubs including New York City FC, Melbourne FC and Manchester City — the world’s sixth-highest-valued soccer team at $4.25 billion. 

In South America, the company also has a stake in Uruguay’s Montevideo City Torque and a deal with Club Bolivar.

Most recently, CFG acquired an 80% stake in Italian Serie B’s Palermo in June.

Silver Lake’s Stake

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Silver Lake increased its stake in City Football Group by 4.1% to 14.54% sometime between early 2020 and January 2022, becoming the company’s second-largest shareholder. Silver Lake purchased its initial 10% stake for $500 million in 2019.