TYCOON’S MILLIONS
ROAD TO RICHES
FROM BACK PAGE businessman was in Glasgow last week to meet with the current regime as he edges closer to completing a deal which will see Dave King step away from his position as chairman.
Paisley-born Gibson has made his fortune in the Far East since moving there in 1999 and his real estate company, ESR, boasts of having more than £1.5billion worth of assets under its management.
It’s understood the lifelong Rangers supporter was initially attracted to the idea of investing in the club around six months ago after discussions with current director George Taylor, a senior investment banker with Morgan Stanley, based in Hong Kong.
Gibson has secretly attended a number of games during that time including the Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts in November and the defeat to Celtic in December’s final.
He had also planned to be at Ibrox for Sunday’s Old Firm derby before it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s understood Gibson is set to bankroll the club as part of a new £20m investment which will secure Rangers finances in the short to medium term.
But it’s anticipated Gibson will then go a stage further by buying up King’s shareholding – and becoming the key player behind the scenes at Ibrox.
A close source said: “Stuart is extremely excited about this opportunity because he’s been a massive Rangers supporter his whole life.
“He met George Taylor as part of a business deal and it was during those discussions that the idea was planted. The talks became very serious from that moment and now it looks as if the deal could be announced very shortly.”
Gibson is the co-founder and joint chief executive of e-Shang Redwood (ESR), a Hong Kongbased property development group.
In the last month he launched a £200m plan to build the largest goods distribution centre in Nagoya, Japan’s fourth largest city.
In March last year, it was announced that ESR has acquired a parcel of land on Japan’s Tokyo Bay for the development of a £820m warehouse.