Manchester City are set to gain a new sister club as members of Brazilian side EC Bahia voted overwhelmingly in favour to become part of the City Football Group.
City's parent company, the CFG, already has 12 clubs in its portfolio around the world across five continents, with Montevideo City Torque and partner club Bolivar their only South American interests so far. Now, they are set for a presence in Brazil, with Salvador-based Bahia now becoming the 13th club in the group, after securing promotion to Brazil's Serie A last month.
With Bahia club members required to vote to approve any outside investment, the CFG takeover was passed on Saturday with a 98.6 per cent approval rating. Work will now take place to formally complete the takeover, with CFG to hold a 90 per cent stake in the club. Previous reports suggested the takeover could be worth £175m.
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Reacting to the news, City and CFG CEO Ferran Soriano said the takeover is expected to be completed early next year.
“Today is an incredibly exciting milestone for Bahia and City Football Group," he said. "We are honoUred that Bahia's shareholders have placed their trust in us and voted in favour of City Football Group's investment. We are now continuing to work on the transaction process, which we expect to finalize in early 2023.
“By completing the process, we will implement a long-term strategy for Bahia to boost the growth of the club. We will prioritise strengthening squads and youth divisions to compete at a high level, engaging with fans and improving their experience, achieving solid long-term financial sustainability and always keeping in focus the strong values, roots and identity of EC Bahia."
In a video message, he said: "To the members of Bahia, I want to say thank you. On behalf of all of us at City Football Group, thank you for your trust, thank you for trusting us to take care of your club. It is a great honour, but we also know that it is a great responsibility. Responsibility that we face with ambition, but also with the seriousness it deserves. Today is a historic day.
"From today, we are together to make Bahia an even bigger and better club. We have a new and wonderful path ahead of us. We will need your help and support. I'm sure we will. Thank you. Let's go Bahia".
Guilherme Bellintani, Bahia president, added: “Today our partners took a historic and democratic decision, bringing us closer to being part of the largest and most pioneering football group in the world and a new future for our dear and daring club, through Bahia SAF.”
“It is very exciting that our beloved club is about to join the City Football Group. We will continue to work hard in the coming months to finalize the investment. For me personally, it's an incredible moment in my life, even more so for the immediate return to Serie A. Thank you all for your trust and we'll keep going. Bahia is the world, as our fans say!”
A Bahia statement read: "With a record vote in the club's history and an overwhelming approval rating of 98.6%, more than 13,000 members of Esporte Clube Bahia (EC Bahia or Associação) decided in favor of creating a Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (Bahia SAF) to be created by the EC Bahia, as well as the future investment by City Football Group (CFG), which will make it the majority shareholder of Bahia SAF.
"Both parties will continue to work on the transaction process, the successful closing of which would see CFG own 90% of Bahia SAF and the remaining 10% owned by the Association."
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