August 6 – It has been a mixed Easter holiday for Scottish giants Rangers. The Championship side are battling a long period of boardroom instability and shareholder infighting, while at the same time being embroiled in a dogfight for a return to the Scottish Premier League – and what would be their third promotion in three seasons.
On Thursday the news was released that Rangers International Football Club (RIFC) is to be delisted from the AIM Stock Exchange. A blow for the new board as they attempt to refinance the club.
The delisting prompted threats of legal action from major shareholder and former chairman Sandy Easdale, who controls about 20% of shares is in the club. His group has been booted off the board following extraordinary general meeting last month that passed a vote of no confidence in them and led to their replacement by a faction led by former director Dave King.
The shareholder backlash was in large part a vote against the creeping influence of Englishman Mike Ashley at the club. Ashley had built a 10% shareholding, had two close associate on the board, and had made a series of loans to club. Meanwhile his Sports Direct company had taken a controlling position in Ranger’s profitable merchandising company that had been hived off from the general football business.
Following the shareholder revolt, King was unable to take his position on the board as he was been waiting clearance while checks that he has a “fit and proper” person were undertaken. Rangers shares have been suspended since March 4 and the nominated advisor (nomad) had resigned leaving the club a month, under stock exchange rules, to appoint a new nomad – something that King and new interim chairman Paul Murray had indicated was a formality as they believed they had a firm lined up to take over.
But with the April 4 deadline passed, the reinstatement of RIFC shares to the public market also passed. Shares in the club can still be traded but only privately between individuals (rather than public through a market).
RIFC has said that it will look at being listed on London’s third market, the ISDX, where Arsenal shares are listed.
But for Easdale, who says that shareholders have been mislead, this isn’t enough and he says he is considering legal action against individuals, specifically Murray and King.
“I think this is a bit of a blow for the shareholders,” said Easdale. “We were told on several occasions that they had a nomad and the listing would be secure. We were quite willing to let the new board build the club, but we thought that the club would still be listed on AIM. Our consortium thinks that this move would undervalue the sales that were purchased at certain prices.”
Murray said: “It was clear that we would have to pay a price for years of poor corporate governance and financial mismanagement.
“Be certain that this delisting, which is down entirely to the actions of previous boards, will have no bearing on future investment.”
While shareholder discontent rumbles on, there was some relief for the club on the pitch as 40,521, a return to the spectator levels the club enjoyed in the past, watched the team beat already crowned league champions Hearts.
The win puts Rangers into second place above Hibernian with a game in hand. The second place position is significant when it comes to the play-offs as third and fourth play off for the right to challenge second for the promotion slot into the SPL.
The parallel plot lines of boardroom intrigue and Rangers’ rollercoaster season in the league look set to continue.
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