The latest Premier League news from BirminghamLive as the dispute between the League and Manchester City over associated party transactions has ended
Aston Villa owner Nassef Sawiris
Aston Villa owner Nassef Sawiris(Image: Stephen Yang/Bloomberg via Getty Images )
Manchester City and the Premier League have settled their dispute over the rules governing associated party transactions (APTs).
According to PA Sport under the settlement, City accept that the current rules governing APTs are “valid and binding”.
City had launched arbitration proceedings on January 20, 2025 against the current rules, which are designed to ensure that deals between clubs and entities linked to their ownership are done at fair market value.
It was set to go to trial in October, but the settlement agreement means this will not be necessary.
City’s challenge was understood to have included criticism of the way the Premier League treated shareholder loans under the rules.
This is settlement is separate to the case involving more than one hundred charges of alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, charges City strenuously deny. It is not clear when that case will reach a conclusion.
The APT rules were originally introduced in December 2021, following the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United.
Those rules were successfully challenged by City last year, with a tribunal finding them unlawful on multiple grounds, including the fact they excluded shareholder loans from fair market value assessments.
That led to the Premier League consulting with clubs on amendments to the rules, with 16 teams voting in favour of the amended rules at a meeting last November.
City’s acceptance the amended rules are valid and binding appears to put to bed an issue which had threatened to have a major impact on the league if the rules had been significantly weakened.
Without APT rules, entities linked to clubs’ owners could potentially overvalue sponsorships and other commercial transactions to boost a club’s revenue, putting that club in a stronger position under the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and therefore given more leeway to spend on transfer fees and player wages.
An assessment of shareholder loans for fair market value was incorporated into the APT rules last November, but the rules do not apply retrospectively. Instead, the fair market assessment only applies to ongoing and future loans. The rules also allowed a grace period for shareholders to convert such loans to equity.
The Premier League issued a statement which read: “The Premier League and Manchester City FC have reached a settlement in relation to the arbitration commenced by the club earlier this year concerning the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) Rules, and as a result the parties have agreed to terminate the proceedings.
“This settlement brings an end to the dispute between the parties regarding the APT Rules. As part of the settlement, Manchester City accepts that the current APT Rules are valid and binding.
“It has been agreed that neither the Premier League nor the club will be making any further comment about the matter.”
In October 2024 a tribunal ruled that shareholder loans should not be excluded from the scope of APT rules. Then last November Aston Villa owner Nassef Sawiris had said he intended to support City in voting against proposed Premier League changes to those rules.
Villa went public in their stance to vote against the implementation of APT rules because Sawiris believes the English top-flight needs a "fresh start". Villa wrote to the Premier League asking for the vote to be postponed after an arbitration panel found aspects of them unlawful following a lawsuit instigated by Manchester City.
In the end those changes were passed by 16 votes to four.