Alongside the spin and expectation management of Dave King’s quotes drop last night the Daily Record has explained how the much vaunted takeover will actually take place.
As you’d expect from the ailing Glasgow publisher the explanation raised more questions than answers.
Naturally King was first to commit to selling his shares, an issue that he has been on a mission for since he resigned as Chairman in March 2020, demanding full repayment of his loan rather than the tradition of exchanging his £6m for worthless shares.
King is the biggest individual shareholder with less than 13% of shares in the club, John Bennett is also cashing in his chips which takes the ‘takeover Kings’ to a holding of 20% of the club shares.
Barry Scott is also mentioned by the Record as selling his shares, an ‘investor’ since 2017 he isn’t among the top six shareholders with most current reports putting his stake at 1.5%.
Which leaves the ‘takeover kings’ well short of 51% although there is a vague mention of buying a portion of the shares owned by Douglas Park.
Without buying out Park and paying off his £12m loan the takeover isn’t going anywhere which probably explains why talks that started in October 2024 haven’t yet resulted in a single transaction.
The Club website states, although this hasn’t taken account of the season 24/25 share issues to existing shareholders:
New Oasis Asset Limited, 63,172,893, 12.96%
Douglas Park, 56,300,000, 11.54%
George Alexander Taylor, 49,824,998, 10.22%
Stuart Gibson, 46,500,000, 9.53%
John Bennett, 34,647,059, 7.11%
Borita Investments Limited, 32,612,955, 6.69%
Perron Investments LLC, 29,250,000, 6.00%
New Oasis own King’s shares, Borita Investments is owned by Julian Wolhardt with John Halsted behind Perron Investments
Covering the nitty gritty of the takeover the Record reports:
King decided to sell his 13 percent stake in the club – the largest tranche held by any single investor – after meeting with the US consortium late last year.
Cavenagh and Co will also buy out the shares held by John Bennett and Barry Scott plus portions held by others like ex-chairman Douglas Park.
A future share issue will then take the Americans past the 51 percent mark needed for outright control.
Just like that. Magic. Abracadabra.
Minority shareholders can just order a share issue to take their stake over 51% to take their holding above those that won’t sell to them. Simple isn’t it? Just like buying a house where you refuse to meet the asking price of the sellers. Only in the Daily Record who continued with:
King has no doubt the new owners will make good on promises they gave him when it comes to providing the new boss with funds.
But he cautioned fans against a huge summer splurge.
“The money being invested can’t all be spent immediately – but a big chunk has got to come first.
“If we’re talking about X amount of money, I’d say 40-50 percent has to go in the first window. If we get that wrong, that’s going to be a huge setback.
“But when I was chatting to Andrew when I met him initially, my top criteria based on previous discussions with parties who were interested in investing was proof of funds.
“When I asked Andrew and his consortium for proof, my basis for the calculation was the amount of funds required for a number of transfer windows.
“It wasn’t about getting it done in the first window because I really think it’s going to take time again.
“The discussion with Andrew and the 49ers back in November was around me knowing they had the funds available.
“I wanted to know that once they got a manager, they were going to back him and slowly bridge the gap, because I think we’ve gone backwards over the last couple of seasons.”
With no matches being played the hype and spin is now completely out of control as witnessed by the Gullem Balague fantasy yesterday that has Luke Modric and a queue of Real Madrid Galacticos waiting on Dave Ancelotii getting fitted out with brogues and a blazer.
Meanwhile it is less than eight weeks until the Second Round draw for the Champions League draw with Panathinaikos, Servette and Brann the three potential opponents. Should they get through two qualifying rounds they will play Benfica or Club Brugge for a place in the 36 team group phase.
Phil Clement was sacked on February 23 with the takeover talks getting underway in October according to the WORLD EXCLUSIVE from the Daily Record on February 19.
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4 Comments
by Valentine's day massacre
So as of today – May 29 th 2025 – nobody knows if anyone has sold their shares to anyone else either a consortium or an individual in the tribute act ? I mean nobody , including the lying King has never ever went public to state ” I sold my shares today in theRangers to ..blahdy blah whoever ! Nobody that I can remember has done this newsworthy tale ..can you ? The first guy to punt his shares would be headline news in wee Scotland for half a week , yet nobody has emerged as doing so ! And these people seek publicity like oxygen . Desperate to be relevant ….yet zilcho !
by Peter Reid
Dave king. what he says should be taken with the utmost caution! this guy is a shameless liar and charlatan he would say anything to sell his shares.
by SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS
The size of the ‘available funds’ is a distraction a sleight of hand.
I’ve got enough available funds in my current account to buy the £5K guitar I’ve always wanted. However I’m precluded from realising that dream because my fiscal responsibilities over the next 4 weeks will consume most of that sum. Besides my better half would kick my feckin heid in if I tried it.
For ‘her indoors who must be obeyed’ substitute UEFA and put FSR into the equation and you see the enormity of the problems facing the potential new investors.
Squad costs and other Football operating costs cannot exceed a percentage of earned income. The investors ( irrespective of how much they have personally or collectively available in the bank) are restricted in their ability to channel funds into the squad by the FSR formula. No leeway and as the The Tribute Act are already on EUFA’s Watchlist they would have to be batshit crazy to try to do so this early into their ‘Stewardship’ of the Club.
They’re hamstrung until 2026/27 at the earliest as 2025/26 Transfer budget ( if there is even going to be one) will have already been decided based on 2024/25’s earnings.
by Davie
‘Rangers’ shares have been issued to several directors to pay off loans.
Every share issue dilutes the share value, I wouldn’t be surprised if the shares are now in negative equity, considering Park is still owed a considerable amount on an outstanding loan, who else till has outstanding loans.
An potential buyer looking to make a profit would not jump into that type of debt.
A sensible buyer would wait for administration and liquidation to make an offer on the ground and assets.
I still fail to see where a profit could be made in the first 5 years.
Sadly it’s the gullible fans who suffer, they are persistently fed good news stories, however those stories are fiction, they are just released to take the pressure of the directors.
I will say fair play to the directors who put money in as loans, they are trying to keep the club functional, the loans can’t continue but the debt continues, how long before a meltdown transpires.