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By Nick Harris
17 June 2010
NB: original story posted pre-11am, update below
Portsmouth are expected to exit administration and begin re-building for the future after the formal acceptance today of an offer by the club’s administrators to creditors. Sportingintelligence understands that the club’s administrator has received “yes” votes from creditors acccounting for around 80 per cent of the club’s debt. The threshold required was 75 per cent.
The administrator, Andrew Andronikou, will meet with creditors shortly (11am, Thursday, UK time) to provide details.
HMRC turned down the administrators offer of 20p in the pound but it now looks a virtual certainly that Portsmouth will be out of administration and planning for the future in the Championship with a new manager in the very near future.
Update 1pm
As reported above, Portsmouth’s creditors have indeed voted in favour of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) that will pay them 20p in the pound of debts owed. The vote was 81.3 per cent in favour meaning the CVA was “duly approved” according to administrator Andrew Andronikou. HMRC voted against.
The vote should allow Portsmouth to emerge from administration and begin life in the Championship without any further points deduction, although there is a 28-day period when parties opposed to the deal can appeal.
HMRC is the obvious party that could appeal. The tax man’s claim had mounted to £37m in all but Andronikou reduced that claim to £24m for accounting purposes which meant that HMRC alone could not block the deal.
HMRC insists it is owed £37m and said in a statement: “HMRC notes that the result of today’s vote was to accept the CVA proposals. We will now be carefully considering our position. HMRC stands by the full amount of its claim. We will now carefully consider our position following the chairman’s decision to reduce the amount of our claim for voting purposes.”
Pompey’s new chief executive, David Lampitt, has welcomed the vote as “a first vital step towards creating the clear landscape on which the club can be rebuilt.”
In a statement on the club’s website, he added: “This is a hugely significant day for the club – I’m very pleased the vote has gone through.
“The deal reached between the administrators and the creditors provides us with the first step towards the rebuilding of the club.
“One of my tasks is to bring stability to the club so that it has a long-term future. I believe this has to the best way to bring future success. Today’s agreement should also make the club a more attractive proposition for investment.”.
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