Man City owners make £175m bid to buy Brazilian club Bahia
The parent company of Manchester City is looking to further expand its portfolio of clubs.
City Football Group has made an offer of 1 billion reais (£174.9m) to buy Brazilian second division side Bahia.
The parent company of Manchester City - City are its flagship club - has tabled the bid after a recent law change in Brazil that allows clubs to receive outside investment. CFG are hoping to acquire a 90 per cent stake in the two-time Brazilian champions, with the bid said to also include an option to acquire a further 5 per cent of the club.
The bid for the Salvador-based side still needs the approval of club members, but should it be accepted Bahia will become the 13th club in the ever-expanding CFG portfolio.
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CFG was founded in 2013 around the same time that New York City FC was founded. Since then clubs including Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos, Girona and Troyes have come under its umbrella, with CFG holding different levels of control in each club.
The latest club to receive investment from CFG was Italian side Palermo. In June CFG acquired an 80 per cent stake in the Serie B side as they continue their rise back up through the leagues after being excluded from professional football in 2019.
Speaking at the time, chief executive officer of the CFG Ferran Soriano said: "Palermo is a historic great club and has a strong and proud identity. We will work together with Dario Mirri to consolidate his extraordinary work, which aims - over the next few years - at Palermo's sustainable growth.
"Our role will be to add value to all the things that make it so special and to constantly improve performance on and off the pitch, leveraging our experience and expertise."
CFG's policy of acquiring major stakes in clubs across the globe is a controversial one. The network of teams provides City with a host of clubs they can draw sellable talents from, but critics see that as a form of footballing doping.
Some supporters of clubs acquired by CFG, including Palermo and Belgian side Lommel SK, opposed the investment for fear of losing their club's identity. With Brazilian clubs such as Botafogo and Cruzeiro jumping at the chance to bring in outside investment, Bahia's members might be tempted to follow suit.
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