THE power struggle surrounding Rangers has taken a fresh twist after it was announced that Dave King has snapped up a 15 per cent stake in the club.
The South-Africa based businessman's move, announced to the stock exchange yesterday, comes just days after it was confirmed millionaire businessman Douglas Park's Three Bears group had bought out the club's biggest shareholder Laxey Partners.
King had offered the club a £16million investment package two months ago but was rebuffed by chairman David Somers, who claimed the Castlemilk-born millionaire had failed to reveal his backers or provide proof of funds.
In an announcement to the Stock Exchange, the RIFC board said: "The company was informed on 2 January 2015 that New Oasis Investments Limited ("New Oasis"), a company 100% owned by the Family Trust of Dave King, acquired 11,869,505 ordinary shares in the company on 2 January 2015.
"Following the transaction, New Oasis will be interested in 11,869,505 ordinary shares in the company, representing approximately 14.57% of the issued share capital."
Artemis Investment Management LLP - who have offices in Edinburgh - and the London-based Miton Group have both confirmed that they have handed King their shares.
King is believed to have gone down the route of increasing his shareholding after his plans to invest in the club were rejected.
He said: "I would like to specifically record my disappointment that, if I hadn't been blocked by the present board in favour of a lesser and commercially disadvantageous offer by Mr Ashley, the money could have gone into the club and not into the pockets of exiting shareholders."
The emergence of two large blocs of shares in the hands of men opposed to the current board could have significant implications for the future of the club.
Should they combine their shareholding or work together, Mr King and the Three Bears Group would command almost a controlling interest in the club and could attract others to their camp.
The latest developments in the Ibrox power struggle have sparked an increase in interest from supporters backing fan-ownership schemes.
Chris Graham, spokesman for the Union of Fans group and secretary of the Supporters Trust, welcomed Mr King's intervention, saying: "We're delighted with this development. We have been trying to get to a point where the club is in the hands of fans ho would work in its best interests.
"Dave King and the Three Bears fit the bill, and they have out backing."
He added: "From the point of view of the Supporters Trust, we would encourage fans and shareholders to get on board with this."
Rangers are desperately short of money and need to raise £8.3million before April 1 if they are to stay afloat.
They were forced to offload Lewis Macleod to SkyBet Championship side Brentford on Wednesday for an "undisclosed fee".
In a separate Stock Exchange notice, the club also announced the proceeds of the sale - understood to be just under £1million - will be used to pay for the club's day to day expenses..
It said: "The board of Rangers announces that on 30 December 2014 Rangers Football Club entered into an agreement to sell a player, Lewis Macleod. The proceeds of the sale will be used for immediate working capital needs during the next few weeks while the directors, in consultation with the company's major shareholders and third parties, seek a long term and stable financial solution for the club."
However, the future of the club could still depend on whether Mike Ashley is allowed to increase his stake.
The Sports Direct businessman owns an 8.92 per cent stake in Rangers and controls the Glasgow giants' retail division.
Jack Irvine, The Easdale family's adviser said:"Sandy is pleased Dave King has shown goodwill and bought these shares and he hopes it leads to further investment in the club."
ends
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article