DAVE King, the Rangers chairman and major shareholder, yesterday accused the Takeover Panel of “bullying” as he confirmed the Ibrox club hoped to raise £6 million of fresh capital from a share issue “before June”.
Lord Carloway at the Court of Session dismissed an appeal against a panel ruling in March forcing Mr King to make an offer of 20p per share for around 70 per cent of the equity in Rangers.
The regulatory body has now said Mr King's initial offer did not comply with the Takeover Code as it was not supported by cleared funds and they have launched legal action.
Dave King: Celtic's domestic dominance is like a "pack of cards" - one Scottish title win is all Rangers need
However, the South Africa-based businessman has criticised the panel for failing to grant an extension to their deadline and described them as "bullies".
“About two weeks ago the Takeover Panel approached me and said they are unhappy with the funds being held in South Africa and they would like them relocated into the UK to be held in a UK bank account in sterling,” said Mr King.
“I said: ‘I am happy to do that’. But I don’t have facilities in the UK. I would have to open a bank account. I said: ‘That now requires an extension of the offer period’. They didn’t grant the extension. That is where we are stuck right now.
“They changed the requirement, as far as I’m concerned. I think they’ve got a lot of things wrong. I think they’ve tried, in my view, to bully me. I think the Takeover Panel have been bullies.
“I get their point of view which is why I eventually agreed to do it, but there’s a logical con-sequence to the agreement and I’ll need time to comply. You can’t ask me to do it, get my acceptance to do it and not give the extension to comply. That’s absurd.”
Dave King: Celtic's domestic dominance is like a "pack of cards" - one Scottish title win is all Rangers need
The panel can impose sanctions on Mr King for missing the deadline – the most severe of which would see him “cold shouldered”. That would mean no individual or institution regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority could act on his behalf. But he insisted that will have no impact on the share issue or Rangers.
“For me, it is an irrelevance,” he said. “Sanctions would make no difference to me and it would make no difference to Rangers.”
Mr King confirmed he will not participate in the share issue due to his ongoing stand-off with the panel. Asked how much Rangers could raise, he said: "We'll be looking at just over £16 million.
“There will be a balance of conversion of loans versus raising of new cash. Right now it's £6 million and £10 million in loans, but we might go £8 million and £8 million. We've not yet made our final decision, but it won't be less than £6 million new cash."
Dave King: Celtic's domestic dominance is like a "pack of cards" - one Scottish title win is all Rangers need
Meanwhile, Mr King has insisted the Rangers board, along with long-term investors George Letham and George Taylor, remain united following the resignations of directors Paul Murray and Barry Scott last week.
“Barry feels he can’t give his time and attention to the club and this point in time,” he said. “Paul, I don’t actually know. His resignation was a surprise to me. Having said that, I completely understand it. Being a Rangers director is not fun. Perhaps he has just had enough.”
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