DAVE King, the Rangers chairman, said last night that his ongoing wrangle with the takeover panel would have “zero impact” on the running of the Ibrox club and insisted the time would soon be right to raise further funds for the club by way of a rights issue.
The UK’s takeover watchdog launched a court action back in April to force him to make an £11m bid for the club, ruling that he had acted in concert with George Letham, George Taylor and Douglas Park - aka the ‘Three Bears’ - when he acquired 30% of voting rights in Rangers in late 2014, but King said last night he would contest the action.
Moreover, Ashley’s apparent willingness to sell his 8.9% stake in the club to Rangers supporters’ groups and an unnamed overseas investor means the board will soon be able to issue new shares without first offering them to existing shareholders.
“Absolutely I am contesting it [the Takeover Panel ruling],” said King.
“It is just plain wrong and it won’t survive. It will have zero impact on Rangers, it is a shareholder issue. I can’t make an offer for the shares. If they had said to my trust to make an offer then the trust could do it. They have the parties mixed up. I think it’s wrong and maybe they’ll fix it. But it doesn’t occupy my mind. But we are now in a position to proceed with a rights issue,” he added.
“We have always struggled to get that 75% [for Resolution 11] because of the opposition from MASH. I think it is fair to say that opposition will not be there going forward which means that either at the AGM coming up or before we will be able to get those resolutions through.”
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