Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour has invested a further £100 million into City Football Group as the club's appeal against its Premier League charges continues.
The eight-time Premier League champions were found guilty of 114 of the 115 Premier League charges levelled at them last month. They confirmed they would lodge an appeal, which will now be heard by another independent commission, and maintain their innocence.
New Share Issue
Filings at Companies House show that City Football Group raised around £100 million by issuing 11,327,163 new shares. Mansour's Newton Investment and Development purchased all of those shares, marginally increasing his majority holding in the company.
City Football Group is currently valued at just under £6 billion. Its European clubs include Manchester City, Girona, Lommel SK, Troyes and Palermo, while New York City, Montevideo City Torque, Bahia, Melbourne City and Shenzhen Peng City round off the portfolio.
CEO's Response to Charges
Sheikh Mansour has yet to speak out on the charges City face, but CEO Ferran Soriano sent a lengthy message to staff in the aftermath of the guilty verdict.
He said: "This has gone for so long that it is important to remind ourselves that the whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation - that the owners' personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.
"Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows that it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate that the money did not come from the owner. Every other false charge that has been thrown at us - and aggressively marketed and promoted - comes from the simple, central, and completely false accusation.
"Surprisingly for us, and for our lawyers, after nearly two years the Premier League Commission has introduced an opinion that supports the Premier League's conspiracy theory. To do so, the opinion had to ignore the extensive evidence provided by the club in order to reach a conclusion that is clearly wrong.
"Our lawyers will now file an appeal that sets out the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact and it is unsafe. Remember we have been here before. In 2020 we were also wrongly ruled against for many of the same issues. We appealed to an independent body in CAS and we won.
"We will now be relentless in our work. We will focus on the independent appeal process and also all other legal avenues available to us in order to win the case, and we will take all necessary action to protect the club and seek compensation from any party that tries to damage it now, and in the future."
