LONDON: The scale of Abu Dhabi's commitment to turning Manchester City into a leading force in Europe was underlined today when the club published their first financial figures since their takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nayan.

They reveal Sheikh has invested £395 million in the club by converting loans of £305 million into equity before buying further shares of just under £90 million. In the year to the end of May 2009, City registered an operating loss of £92.6 million, the second largest registered by an English club behind the £140 million figure registered by Chelsea in 2005.

The operating loss came in a year in which City broke the British transfer record by spending £32.5 million on bringing Robinho to the club. City's chief financial and administration officer Graham Wallace said that, despite the huge losses, the club was generating increased revenues and aimed to balance the books over the longer term.

Mansour's coversion of his investment into equity mirrors the approach taken by Roman Abramovich at Chelsea and underlines the much stronger financial position City

find themselves in compared to Liverpool and Manchester United, both of whom

have been saddled with

the burden of financing the huge debts incurred by their current owners during their purchases of the clubs.