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Portsmouth 'very near' to finding new buyer - Chainrai

Balram Chainrai believes a takeover is close © Getty Images

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Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai, who took control of Portsmouth after the club defaulted on loans from him, believes the club are "very near" to finding a new buyer.

Pompey have debts totalling over £80 million and became the first Premier League club to enter administration last month. Talks are said to be ongoing with several potential investors, and Chainrai is convinced Portsmouth fans will not have to wait long for a resolution.

Chainrai told Bloomberg Television: "I don't feel I've lost the money. I feel the money is there, I can see it. If the club is alive my money is alive.

"The main objective is to sell off the club to some consortium or institution or person, who would be able to be responsible enough to stabilise it and run it properly.

"I've heard through my lawyers that they are in conversations with several parties. They are deep into talks that could finalise in the very near future."

Administrator Andrew Andronikou announced 85 job cuts on Wednesday and promised more if the club are relegated, as seems likely if the Premier League enforce a nine-point deduction for entering administration.

Chainrai said he only took up the offer of equity in the club because the alternative was to lose the money Portsmouth had borrowed from him.

"There were court cases against the club, it was a possibility that the club would have been wound up, and if that happened everybody would have lost their jobs," he said.

"I would have lost my money and my main focus was to actually stabilise the club, to try and get my money back. The only way I could do it was to exercise my right to seize the shares."

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