RANGERS have called a general meeting of shareholders to finally approve a new fund-raising share issue.
Chairman Dave King said in May that he was to launch a share issue which could bring in £6 million in fresh revenue.
The total number of shares to be bought in the fresh issue is 63,147,137, meaning the value of the offer is £12.6m.
The new issue would increase the number of ordinary shares in Rangers International Football Club plc from 81,478,201 to 144,625,341.
Rangers International Football Club plc has now called a meeting at the end of August where final approval will be sought for the issue of shares.
In a general meeting notice, the club said: "The issue of shares will improve the capital base of the company and ensure the ongoing funding of the company is both secure and compliant with all rules affecting football clubs."
It comes after shareholders approved the issue of new shares at the 2017 annual general meeting.
The board said it was now seeking approval now that the "identities of the participants of the issue and the price of 20p at which shares are to be issued have been finalised".
The RIFC plc's recommendation states: "Your board believes the resolution is in the best interests of the company and is most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its shareholders as a whole.
"The board recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the resolution.. as each director intends to do so in respect of his own beneficial holding."
The move is separate from the Rangers' chairman's judge-ordered £11 million bid for most of the club's shares which Mr King says has been held up because he has to get funds from South Africa to the UK.
Lord Bannatyne issued a warning to Mr King last month to make good his obligation required under Takeover Code rules at a hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
The Rangers chief has already been told he is in breach of takeover rules by failing to make the bid.
In December Lord Bannatyne ruled in favour of the Takeover Panel that Mr King acted in concert with other shareholders when he bought a controlling stake in 2015 ousting a board of directors said to be allied to Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.
That supported the Takeover Panel's view that a formal takeover should have been triggered after the Three Bears group led by Mr King secured more than 30 per cent of the voting rights in Rangers.
Under Takeover Code rules, a written offer to shareholders had to be made within 28 days of a bid announcement being made on March 29.
The general meeting notice confirms the issue will be made to existing shareholders named as: Barry Scott, John Bennett, Andrew Ross, Club 1872, Borita Investments Limited, New Trace Limited, Andrew Hawkyard, Neil Hosie, Paul Redbourn, New Oasis Asset Limited, Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor.
Mr King's New Oasis Asset Limited is listed as taking the biggest stake, 9,199,089 shares and will remain the biggest shareholder at Rangers with 21,068,594 shares and 14.57% of RIFC, if the issue is approved.
Rangers fans shareholder group Club 1872, would remain the second biggest shareholder, with an extra 5,000,000 from the issue for a total of 13,732,254 shares, giving them 9.5% of RIFC.
A new name amongst the major shareholders at Rangers is Borita Investments Limited, who would get 7.5m shares from the new issue bringing the company's total to 11,132,500 and 7.7% of RIFC. The company is believed to be the investment vehicle of Julian Wolhardt, the chief executive of Hong Kong-based Dehong Capital Partners.
Hong Kong-based George Taylor, a Glasgow-born managing director with Morgan Stanley, would strengthen his position at RIFC with an extra 5,870,768 shares, bringing his total to 13,445,768. With 9.3% of RIFC, he remains the shareholder with the third biggest stake.
Former Rangers director Barry Scott will receive the second biggest stake from the new issue with 7,645,000 shares. The Hong Kong-based business was named in January 2016 as one of three benefactors who had contributed to the £6.5 million loan paid to Rangers in a bid to pay off Mike Ashley and help pay for the day-to-day running costs.
The biggest loser from the prominent Rangers shareholders appears to be former Rangers chairman Sandy Easdale, who left the boardroom after Mr King's Blue Knights took control three years ago but had remained the fourth biggest shareholder. He has no new stake, meaning he would remain on 5,256,110 shares but he will have a much smaller slice of the RIFC pie, with 3.6%, down from 6.45% before the share issue.
A statement on the Premiership club's website said: “Rangers International Football Club PLC has today called a General Meeting (GM) of its shareholders at 9.30 a.m. on Friday 31 August 2018 to approve an issue of shares."
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel