The £210m move that could be a vote of confidence in CFG and Manchester City

Manchester City owners City Football Group have raised £210m worth of capital after issuing new preference shares.

A filing made with Companies House at the end of August detailed that CFG had issued 23,788,002 preference shares priced at £8.83 each on June 30, a move which took the total number of CFG shares to 620,527,018, valuing the group at around £5.5bn.

The filing does not identify the party to whom the shares were issued, but there are presently only two groups who hold preference shares in CFG, the Abu Dhabi Investment Group (ADIG), and US private equity firm Silver Lake Capital, who initially acquired a 10% shareholding in CFG back in 2019 for a $500m sum.

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In late 2022, Silver Lake increased its shareholding in CFG to 18.15% after it moved to acquire most of the shares that had previously been held by China Media Capital.

It is a common move for companies to issue preference shares to raise capital, allowing them to do so without giving up control of the company. Those who hold preference shares are higher up the chain and receive dividends before common shareholders.

Silver Lake are the second largest shareholder in Manchester City’s parent company, and were they to be the party to have been allocated the new preference shares then they would have taken their stake to 21.3%.

It would also be a sign of confidence in Manchester City, by far the most valuable asset in the CFG portfolio, with the club currently in the throes of a battle with the Premier League over it charging the club with 115