Real estate giant Dalian Wanda Group has become the first mainland Chinese company to own part of an elite European soccer team, acquiring a 20 percent stake in Spanish league soccer champions Atletico Madrid for 45 million euros ($52 million). The deal values the entire team at $260 million. 

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The deal was announced at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, and adds to a slew of deals by China's second-richest man Wang Jianlin, who is chairman of Dalian Wanda Group. Over the past two years, according to Reuters, the real estate conglomerate has invested almost $2 billion in European hotels and properties.

With China's once-booming real estate market hurting over the past year, the company has been diversifying its assets by making a strong push into the entertainment industry; and it's most recent acquisition of the prestigious Spanish club dovetails with the group's ambitions.

Wang has also said he wants to invest in theme parks and the film industry, and hopes to compete with the likes of entertainment powerhouses Disney and Universal Studios. The Financial Times reports that Dalian Wanda is also among the bidders for Infront Media, a Swiss sports marketing company run by Philippe Blatter, the nephew of Fifa president Sepp Blatter, reports the Financial Times.

The compnay and the team are no strangers as Dalian Wanda established a youth training program with Atletico Madrid in 2012, with the goal of "strengthening the quality of Chinese football," Wang said at a the signing ceremony in Beijing.

The acquisition is a win-win for both club and investor, as buying into Atletico will offer new branding prospects in Europe for Dalian Wanda, as well as provide a potentially huge new boost in fans for the team with it's exposure to the massive Chinese market.

According to the terms of the deal, the Chinese real estate group will also pony up another 15 million euros to pay for half of a new youth training facility for the European soccer club.

Despite being the reigning Spanish league Champions, the Atletico is in much need of a cash injection as its debt currently exceeds 500 million euros, reports Reuters.

"The Asian market is the largest and every European club is working in Asia," Atletico's CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin said at the signing ceremony.  "The idea is to increase (our) base of supporters and increase our revenues around sponsorship agreements."

This is not Dalian Wanda's first foray into soccer, as the group used to own Dalian City's local team in the 1990s.

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