Rangers takeover: ‘New bidders have Rangers ties’

TWO NEW bidders, one of them described as being well known in both football and the Scottish community, have held detailed discussions with Rangers’ administrators since Bill Miller pulled out of the running to buy the ailing Ibrox club on Tuesday.

• Preferred bidder Bill Miller withdrew from the process on Tuesday

• Administrators revealed they are looking at three bidders

• Craig Whyte to transfer shares to a British consortium

• Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy ‘reflecting on his position’

Administrators Duff & Phelps remain optimistic that the club’s future can still be secured before the side play their last league fixture of the season against St Johnstone on Sunday.

Joint administrator David Whitehouse revealed last night that they are now in discussions with as many as four interested parties following the United States-based Miller’s withdrawal from the process, having only been named preferred bidder as recently as last week.

Two of these bidders have been described as coming “very late to the table”. Whitehouse added that they would be popular with the fans. “There is a Rangers connection there,” he said. “There is certainly a more natural empathy with the club than Bill Miller had,” he added.

“They want anonymity, but that will break over the next 24-48 hours. These bidders are in a position where they are well known and if they put their heads above the parapet there will be a crescendo of interest and support and they don’t want that yet.

“They will only do so if they are in a position of likely success.”

Asked why the latest bidders have waited until the very last moment to become involved, Whitehouse said: “That is a hard question to answer. The availability of this club has not been without media attention, so why did they not come forward? That is a question which will have to be asked of the bidders at a later stage.”

Fevered speculation has already begun as to the identity of the party he described as being “known names in both football and the Scottish community”. Graeme Souness, the former Rangers player-manager, is one familiar name who has been linked to efforts to purchase the club through his friendship with Brian Kennedy, whose interest in owning Rangers remains alive.

According to Whitehouse, discussions have opened again with Kennedy’s advisors. “Brian, to be fair, has always been very clear that he considers himself to be the last man standing,” said the joint administrator.

Whitehouse intensified the intrigue when confirming that Paul Murray, the former Ibrox director whose Blue Knights consortium has never been far away from the bidding process, is not currently in the frame.

“Paul Murray has not come back to us, we have not had discussions with him,” he said. “What we have tried to establish today is whether Brian’s discussions are on behalf of the Blue Knights or on behalf of Brian Kennedy and we await that clarity.”

An English-based consortium has also been described by Whitehouse as being at an “advanced stage” in the process. They are believed to have already come to an agreement with owner Craig Whyte to sell his 83.5 per cent shareholding.

“We can confirm that, to our knowledge, there are written agreements in place with two of the bidders to transfer his shares,” said Whitehouse. “People say he is selling his shares, but he is doing that for a nominal consideration of a pound.

Whitehouse emphasised that Whyte is “not going to benefit from this process”. He added: “But let’s not lose sight of the fact that Craig Whyte’s shares are only one hurdle towards a CVA [Company Voluntary Arrangement].

“The CVA has a number of hurdles including funding and getting creditor approval. Because the process has been delayed in terms of the time taken for bidders to come to the table that makes a CVA more vulnerable through the process of completion.

“If we accept a bid for a CVA now a creditors meeting is not going to happen until the end of the month, more realistically in June.

And that’s after the period we are funded for. So we would want bidders to provide funding during that period - i.e. after May.”

Miller, an American tow truck magnate, withdrew from the running on Tuesday, citing an unwillingness to get involved with a club that, after further detailed analysis, looked to be in graver financial trouble than first thought. His business advisor Jon Pritchett also explained that Miller had been unnerved by the volume of abusive emails that he had been receiving on a daily basis from Rangers fans who had been left unconvinced about both his credentials and intentions. Whitehouse revealed that he had been told Miller had received “in excess of 1000” emails from Rangers fans, questioning his motives. He added that he didn’t believe any of the current bidders would receive any such backlash.

Aware of the scepticism which greeted the announcement on Tuesday that there were another three bidders waiting in the wings, Whitehouse made a point of describing them as “very real”. The two latest notes of interest to be received were, he said, “actually very advanced in their thought process, well engaged with advisors and well advanced.”

Whitehouse has admitted it would be a “pretty bleak picture” if the club failed to find a buyer. However, he emphasised that three “deliverable” offers, which could still see a preferred bidder named prior to this weekend, remain on the table. “Brian Kennedy is what I would describe as the fourth bid,” he said, having declined to identify the others. It is understood, however, that Singaporean businessman Bill Ng is back in contention to buy the club, despite having apparently ended his interest in April after describing the bidding process as “untenable”.

Asked specifically about Ng, Whitehouse said: “You can make your own assumptions on that. I can’t tell you who the others are. One of the problems we have here is that we have signed confidentiality agreements with all the parties. And we stick to those – but they don’t always.”

Even as late as yesterday evening, Whitehouse said he could not foresee a situation where no deliverable offer had been put on the table by Sunday. “The momentum that has gathered in the last couple of days makes that a highly unlikely scenario,” he said. “I feel pretty optimistic. Wind the clock back to last week at this time and we had one bid. Now we have three.”