Making money: what the experts think
● Home win
Where’s the world’s most valuable sports group? Look no further than Manchester, said Reuters. Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi-controlled owner has agreed to sell a 10% stake to the US private equity firm Silver Lake for $500m – in a deal that establishes the club, and its affiliated teams in the US and China, as “the world’s most valuable soccer group” with a $4.8bn price-tag. “The investment crowns a rags-toriches story for Manchester City, which spent much of the 1990s in the doldrums before making the breakthrough into the big league of world soccer with the help of Middle Eastern cash.”
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The deal marks a departure for Silver Lake, “which made its name investing in technology companies such as Alibaba, Dell and Skype”, said Murad Ahmed in the FT. “The firm was attracted by the multibillion-dollar prices paid for football media rights by broadcasters and internet groups.” There’s not much chance of fans being able to buy in: Silver Lake says it “intends to hold its stake for about a decade”, though there’s a chance it “could seek to cash out through an initial public offering”. News of this latest valuation won’t go down well elsewhere in Manchester. New Yorklisted Manchester United – City’s local footballing rival – has a market capitalisation of just $2.8bn. Still, that’s 2-0 to Manchester. The most likely US contender, the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, was priced at $2.35bn earlier this year – making it the third most valuable sports group in the world.
● Green windfall
Great news for electric car owners, said Graeme Paton in The Times: the price of second-hand greenmobiles is up “by as much as 14% this year” – fuelled by soaring demand and “a shortage of new models”. Motorists have faced waiting lists of up to a year for some models, including the Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona. Other manufacturers such as Jaguar, Tesla, Nissan and Volkswagen have also reported delivery delays, which they blame on rising global demand “and a battery shortage”. The upshot is a windfall for any existing owner thinking of selling. According to a study by Auto Trader, the average price of a used electric car was £24,910 last month – compared with £14,421 for a used diesel vehicle and £11,872 for a used petrol car.