By Mark Baber
December 19 – The shares of Rangers International Football Club plc opened at 75p per share in their first session of trading this morning soon climbing to 76.5p on London’s Alternative Investments Market.
The Glasgow club announced Tuesday that it had raised a total of £22.2m in the share offer, of which at least £17m was from institutional investors and rich individuals.
It had been planned to raise £10m from fans but, in the week before Christmas and in the middle of a recession, many fans did not follow through on internet pledges and the final total from fans is about half this amount.
Rangers fans probably won’t want to be reminded but when their ‘Old Firm’ rivals Celtic needed to raise money to save their club, 10,000 of them raised £9m back in 1995.
Nevertheless, the club is delighted overall with the share sale and flotation as they now have the money to take the club forward in a sustainable fashion, with no pressure on their finances, and although playin in the third division, still enjoying massive attendances.
Chief executive Charles Green said, “We are rebuilding and Rangers will rise again and we will do so with the help of our fans and the institutional investors who are on board.”
Charles Green was listed as the club’s main shareholder in the share prospectus with almost 15% of the shares. Other major shareholders
include Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and Blue Pitch Holdings.
54 times Scottish champions, Rangers are now leading the Scottish third division by six points from Elgin City after beating Annan Athletic 3-0 on Tuesday evening in front of a crowd of 42,135.
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