King offers to buy out Rangers shares

Rangers chairman Dave King has made a £19m offer to buy out the rest of the shares in the Ibrox club.

King was ordered to make an offer for the remainder of the shares in Rangers International Football Club Ltd by the Takeover Panel after it ruled the South Africa-based businessman had acted “in concert” with fellow investors when they took control of the club in 2015.

After a protracted court case, King finally agreed in December that he would make the offer and details of the bid were then posted on the Rangers website on Friday afternoon, just hours before the deadline.

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King has notified the courts that he will use Laird Investments, a family owned trust, to fulfil the ruling.

Shareholders have until 1pm on February 15 to decide whether to accept or reject the offer of 20p per share.

King seized control of the club from the previous Mike Ashley-backed regime when he teamed up with a group known as the ‘Three Bears’ – businessmen Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor.

But as they collectively held more than 30 per cent of the shares in the club’s holding company RIFC Ltd, the Takeover Panel ordered Castlemilk-born tycoon King as the group’s leader to comply with stockmarket rules which meant he must make a bid for the remainder of the shares.

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However, a number of shareholders have already given King “irrevocable undertakings” that they will not accept the offer – potentially reducing the final bill by around £11m.

The rest of the shares are worth in the region of £8m but many are small holdings in the hands of fans, who are also unlikely to agree to the offer.