By Paul Nicholson
January 12 – Rangers have turned down a revised bid of £20 million for a majority stake in the Scottish club from American Robert Sarver. The announcement was made to the London Stock Exchange this morning. Sarver had also offered the club an emergency £6.5 million loan as part of the deal.
Sarver is CEO of the $10bn Western Alliance Bancorporation and has owned the successful Phoenix Suns NBA franchise since 2004. He had provided proof of funds to the Rangers board.
Sarver’s offer was for 100 million shares at 20p a share. An offer that would require approval of 75% of Rangers shareholders at a general meeting if it was to go ahead.
The Rangers board had already rejected an offer of £18 million from Sarver on January 6 saying that it felt it was unlikely that there would be shareholder approval, and after a second survey of “a number of major shareholders” it still felt unlikely there would be approval.
In making his revised offer for the club, Carver had said: “It would enable Rangers to repay the loans from Mike Ashley and Sandy Easdale, and free it of debt.
“I know, of course, that there are various groups of prominent fans who have been working hard for a long time to bring change to the club and they can rest assured that I am committed to building a strong partnership with fans and key stakeholders to do what is best for the club…
“After everything they have been through in recent years, I understand some are rightly cautious about a guy they’ve never heard of wanting to get involved in their club. I’d feel exactly the same way.
“But hopefully I can combine my financial resources and knowledge of professional sport with strong local leaders and top-notch management to bring Rangers back to elite level.”
The shareholding held by Mike Ashley, owner of English Premier league club Newcastle United and the Sports Direct sports retail chain, has become increasingly contentious as Ashley had bid to increase his stake beyond the almost 10% he already holds to 30%.
That was stopped by the Scottish FA which was unconfortable with the influence Ashley held over the club saying: “The board, under article 13 of the Scottish FA articles of association, is required to have due regard to the need to promote and safeguard the interests and public profile of association football, its players, spectators and others involved with the game.”
But the influence of Ashley seems unstoppable.
Ashley now has key associates in important positions at the club. Derek Llambias, former CEO of Newcastle United, has taken over as CEO of Rangers, while former Sports Direct head of brands Barry Leach has just been appointed finance director. Sports Direct handles all the club’s merchandising.
Over the New Year holidays, hedge fund Laxey Partners sold their 16.32% stake in the club to a consortium of wealthy fans for £2.6 million – 13 million shares were sold at 20p each. Laxey bought the shares two years ago for 70p each.
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