Walter Smith's consortium drops bid to buy Rangers

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Walter Smith's consortium has pulled out of its bid to buy Rangers from Charles Green's Sevco Group.

A £6m offer was formally lodged with the new owners of the club's assets last Monday, but the consortium, backed by Scottish businessmen Jim McColl and Douglas Park, has now withdrawn from negotiations with Zeus Capital, the investment bank fronted by Green.

Talks initially began with Zeus Capital before last week's failed Company Voluntary Arrangement vote, which consigned Rangers Football Club plc to liquidation. A £6m offer was formally lodged with the new owners of the club's assets last Monday, but the consortium, backed by Scottish businessmen Jim McColl and Douglas Park, has now withdrawn from negotiations with Zeus Capital, the investment bank fronted by Green. Talks initially began with Zeus Capital before last week's failed Company Voluntary Arrangement vote, which consigned Rangers Football Club plc to liquidation. The assets were then transferred to Sevco, the company established by Zeus and now renamed The Rangers Football Club. However, the group failed to reveal full details of their financial backers, their business plan and their working capital funds, prompting Smith's consortium to pull out of talks. "I would like to clarify the background to the offer of £6million for the assets of the Club which I announced on Thursday 14th June 2012," Smith said. "The offer was made to the administrators before the Charles Green consortium had concluded their transaction to acquire the assets at £5.5m from the administrators. We felt it necessary to have a fall-back position to secure the Club’s future. We have since made the same offer of £6m to the Green consortium through Zeus Capital. "Our offer has been rejected and they have made a counter-offer inviting us to join their consortium. However, the current business plan is not in accord with our understanding of the present circumstances of the Club and the way forward, but we would prefer to leave them to proceed in their own way and we wish them good luck in their endeavours. "Members of our consortium had met with Charles Green and Zeus Capital prior to the CVA meeting and it had been agreed that we would be provided with significant information which would give us comfort as to the identity of the consortium members, their strategy and their funding capacity. This information had not been forthcoming by the date of our offer. We are therefore withdrawing completely from the process to enable Charles Green and his consortium to move forward. We very much hope the verbal assurances they provided to us - and the public statements made - are adhered to and that the Club will therefore be financed and managed with appropriate governance and can go forward in a sustainable manner. We wish the new Rangers Football Club every good fortune."

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Walter Smith's consortium drops bid to buy Rangers

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