The Indian Premier League (IPL) is maybe an unlikely saviour for Balram Chainrai's cash-strapped soccer club Portsmouth, but the enormous revenue the cricket league has generated has led its backers to look further afield at other sports and the English south coast side could well benefit from it.
Chainrai, the team's Hong Kong-based owner, spent last week in India speaking to consortiums interested in buying the English Premier League club. From these meetings Chainrai identified suitable investors and he will be giving their names to the club's administrators tomorrow.
The final sale of the club will be up to the administrators, who were called in after insolvent Portsmouth became the first English Premier League team to be forced to seek bankruptcy protection from its creditors in February, which enabled it to restructure financially.
A victory today over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley will see the side miraculously reach the FA Cup final, yet a win will mean not only another big pay day, but also another chance to put the club in the shop window.
'It looks very promising that Indian investors will get involved,' Chainrai said. 'The IPL is taking off in India and it's fired up people's imagination. Now backers are looking to spread out into other sports. They want to get into British football because it would be very lucrative as far as branding goes.
'Despite the problems we've had at Portsmouth, our FA Cup run has seen the status and the value of the club go up, and some people have taken notice. Another win today will see the club's value go even higher.'
Chainrai's company, Portpin, ended up taking over the 90 per cent shareholding in Portsmouth held by previous owner Ali al-Faraj, of Saudi Arabia, in February after the club had missed deadlines to repay money that Chainrai was due and the loan ballooned to GBP17 million (HK$200 million).
