SHARE BEARS
£10m rights issue will keep Rangers ticking
RANGERS shareholders are working on plans for a new £10million rights issue before the start of next season.
Sportsmail understands leading investors, including the Three Bears consortium of Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor, are prepared to put more cash into the club in return for new shares.
And Dave King and other existing investors are expected to follow suit.
The Three Bears loaned the club £1.5m on an interest and security-free basis this week to end any prospect of drawing down a second £5m advance f rom Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.
Rangers promised to utilise the cash until a ‘medium to l ong- term’ f unding package could be formalised.
And discussions have already begun on a rights issue in July which would see existing shareholders pledge a sum of
between £10m and £14m in return for new shares in the club. Sources insist chairman-elect Dave King will participate in a rights issue, which will also be open to fans’ groups, after interim chairman Paul Murray confirmed the South Africa-based businessman had opted out of this week’s short-term loan while he seeks to convince the SFA and financial regulators he is a fit and proper person. Rangers are seeking a new Nominated Advisor willing to approve King’s appointment as a director after 41 convictions under South African tax laws. Failure could lead to the club being delisted from the AIM stock market. It is understood the Three Bears and other influential shareholders would prefer the club to remain listed but will invest more money in any case, calculating that a sum of between £10m and £14m could meet the club’s needs over the next two seasons and meet the doomsday scenario of Stuart McCall’s side spending another year in the Championship. Scotland striker Steven Naismith, meanwhile, has refused to rule out a future return to Ibrox if the club return to the Premiership. The circumstances of his departure in 2012 caused ill feeling, but Naismith — a first pick at English Premiership Everton — insisted: ‘I don’t know what will happen in the coming year never mind the future. ‘At the moment I love playing for Everton. Since I’ve been there it’s been a great adventure, from being a substitute and not having an impact to playing in most of the big games and having an impact. ‘I love it at the moment but, you never know, things can change so quickly in football. I’d never rule anything out, to be honest.’ Backing the decision of the new Rangers regime to appoint Scotland assistant coach Stuart McCall as manager, Naismith said: ‘It was one of the best decisions the new board could have made. ‘I worked with him here with Scotland. He’s great around the squad, he’s straightforward even in this environment when he’s not the manager. He’ll still tell you: “It’s not good enough”. ‘I think it’s a great decision and hopefully from now until the end of the season he can reap the rewards of going in there and getting Rangers back to the Premier League.’