Setanta Sports has been thrown a potential lifeline as it emerged that a new investor had come forward.
The identity of the backer remains a mystery, the company only describing them as a “very serious investor”. Reports suggested the investor is willing to invest around £50 million in Setanta, in the process reducing the shareholding of Doughty Hanson, Balderton Capital and Russian Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.
Meanwhile a £10 million loan has been secured from a second backer to fund one third of a payment due to the Premier League today (Friday).
Setanta has been on the brink of administration for most of the past week. Confidence in the broadcaster has ebbed away after it was only able to secure one package of live Premier League rights from the start of the 2010/11 season as opposed to the current two.