Portsmouth debt goes up to £135m

Portsmouth

Portsmouth’s administrators have revealed the relegated Premier League club’s debts now stand at £138m.

In February, Pompey became the first Premier League club to enter administration with debts of £60m-£70m.

And in April it was revealed the FA Cup finalists, who have had four different owners this season, were £120m in debt.

The news comes on the day creditors meet to approve the drafting of a debt-repayment plan that will enable the club to emerge from administration.

The club is offering to pay at least 20 pence in the pound over five years, and has said that small creditors and charities will be paid in full.

If approved, that plan, a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), will be drawn up by the club’s joint administrators from UHY Hacker Young and distributed within five business days of Thursday’s meeting.


Another meeting will then be arranged within 14-28 days to approve the CVA. This will require the backing of 75% of the club’s unsecured creditors (based on amounts owed), whereas a straight majority will be enough on Thursday.

Portsmouth’s so-called "football creditors" must be repaid in full under football’s rules.

This group includes clubs still owed over £17m in transfer fees by Portsmouth, and current and former players who are owed almost £5m in bonuses, wages and image rights payments.

Pompey’s current owner Balram Chainrai will also get his outstanding £14.2m loan repaid in full but his three predecessors – Sacha Gaydamak, Sulaiman Al-Fahim and Ali Al-Faraj – will have to accept the same reduced rations on offer to the non-football, unsecured creditors.

Prominent among this group is Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is owed £17.1m in taxes and National Insurance contributions.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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