Dave King makes £11m offer for Rangers shares after court battle

Rangers Chairman Dave King has agreed to bid for millions of shares in the club after losing a court ruling mandating him to make the offer to take his holding to nearly 70 per cent.

Dave King. Picture: SNS

The South African based businessman lost an appeal against a Takeover Panel ruling that he and fellow investors had acted ‘in concert’ when they took the reigns at the Ibrox club.

Mr King worked with the group of investors known as a the ‘Three Bears’ to secure 30 per cent of the shares in the club, meaning that, according to the Panel, a formal takeover bid should have been undertaken.

Mr King has now conceded defeat and will use funds from a trust-owned company of which he is a Director, ‘Laird Investments (Property) Limited, to offer 20p a share to shareholders.

Laird’s offer values the share capital of Rangers International Football Club at just over £16m.

Mr King’s decision, revealed in a statement on the club’s website, will see Laird fork out just under £11m if the offer is accepted by shareholders.

There is no indication how individual shareholders will react to Mr King’s offer, although the 20p price is lower than the current share price of RIFC, which is currently listed on the JP Jenkins exchange at 27.50p.

The news came on the day that the club revealed a loss for the final six months of 2017 of £900,000, with just under £18m in interest free loans provided by investors.