The owners of Premier League champions Manchester City have agreed to buy a 65% stake in Indian Super League (ISL) football team Mumbai City FC, the City Football Group (CFG) said in a statement on Thursday.
The ISL team would become the eight club in the CFG network. CFG will become a majority shareholder in the Mumbai club, while existing shareholders Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh will together control the remaining 35% stake.
"City Football Group is committed to the future of football in India and to the potential for Mumbai City FC," Chairman of City Football Group Khaldoon Al Mubarak said.
"We are very much looking forward to playing an active role in Mumbai City FC's fan and local communities, and working with our co-owners to further develop the club as quickly as possible."
Manchester City are the crown jewel of the City Football Group (CFG), which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi-based Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
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The deal comes after CFG agreed to sell a $500million stake to U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, making it the world's most valuable football group with a $4.8bn price tag.
Mumbai City are seventh in the 10-team ISL. Earlier this year, CFG said it had been looking at India for over two years and that it hoped to complete a deal to buy a club in the world's second-most populous nation by the end of 2019.
