LONDON — A United Arab Emirates business group said Monday it has completed a takeover of Premier League club Manchester City.

Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment said in a statement to The Associated Press that it completed the buyout late Sunday with former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Financial terms were not immediately available.

The group said the deal is a "massive achievement" that it hopes will help make Abu Dhabi a global sports capital.

Manchester City said discussions were "ongoing" with the group, and that a statement will be released "when it is appropriate to do so."

Thaksin, who bought Manchester City last May, has been embroiled with legal problems in Thailand and is in exile in London.

Hydra Properties CEO Sulaiman Al Fahim, a member of the group's board, completed the deal at the Abu Dhabi Emirates Palace Hotel with Thaksin and Khalid Kadfour Al-Muhairy, the legal chief of the Emirates Group.

"By engaging into sport's investment, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment aims to reinforce the Abu Dhabi position as a capital of both sport and economic," the statement to the AP said.

Al Fahim pledged to clear any pending payments and solve the club's financial problems, which have left Thaksin resorting to obtaining loans from former chairman John Wardle.

"We will adopt marketing plans that reflect positively on the club and the company," Al Fahim said. The group also said it would invest in signing of new players and development of the club's facilities.

"The excellent English league is the richest European competition with more than $3 billion revenue," the statement said.