Judge tells Gers boss to make £11m offer
A JUDGE has ordered Rangers chairman Dave King to make an £11 million offer to the club’s remaining shareholders.
Lord Bannatyne ruled yesterday that the ‘Gers boss needs to offer investors 20 pence per share for the share capital not already controlled by him and three other businessmen.
The decision comes as a consequence of an action brought to the Court of Session in Edinburgh earlier this year by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers.
The financial watchdog took King to court because it believed Mr King didn’t comply with the terms of the 2006 Companies Act.
The legislation dictates that entrepreneurs who hold a 30 per cent stake in businesses are compelled to make an offer to investors to buy remaining shares The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers believed that Mr King had not complied with the Companies Act in this regard.
Investigators acting for the panel concluded that Mr King acted in concert with the so called Three Bears – businessmen George Letham, George Taylor and Douglas Park – to acquire the shares.
The quartet acquired more than 30% of voting rights in Rangers in late 2014.
The money to buy the shares came from offshore trusts which were in the name of Mr King’s family.
Lawyers acting for King said he didn’t have the money needed to buy back shares at 20 pence per voting right.
Mr King’s legal team also argued that the shares were acquired by cash from his family’s trusts.
The businessman claimed he didn’t have direct control over these trusts.
He said that a company registered in the British Virgin Islands had control over some of the shares.
His lawyers also argued that their client didn’t have the money to make the £11 million offer, saying he was “penniless.”