Crunch Survival Meetings In Next 48 Hours

[Rangers Football Club 0]

DAVID WHITEHOUSE tells RangersTV of discussions with potential purchasers

 

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by Lindsay Herron

 

PROSPECTIVE new owners of Rangers will meet with administrators Duff and Phelps tonight and tomorrow with a tight deadline of Friday set for the way forward for the club.

 

In an exclusive interview with RangersTV, joint administrator David Whitehouse has revealed that a CVA - a company voluntary agreement - can still be used to take Rangers out of administration but says there is a more difficult scenario of the business becoming a "newco" which would heavy sanctions both domestically and in Europe.

 

However, he has accelerated the search for prospective purchasers after failing to reach an agreement with the players on cost-cutting.

 

YOU CAN WATCH INTERVIEW FOR FREE NOW ON RANGERS TV

 

He said: "Ultimately the aim is to find new, strong owners to take the club forward with a financial base so we are now looking at other strategies.

 

"In the next 48 hours or so we are approaching and meeting with those parties who have already expressed an interest in acquiring the club to understand their timetable and to try to accelerate what would be a normal timetable for this sort of transaction.

 

"We have a meeting this evening and we have a series of meetings tomorrow and we will have to conclude our strategy in that regard during the course of Friday.

 

"In light of the outcome of those discussions we can then form a view as to whether we can continue to operate the club within its existing cost base.

 

"If we do form that view that would have to be over a very short period of time because the company is burning cash at a significant rate.

 

"Alternatively, if we can't envisage completing a transaction within that time frame then we will have to either secure cost-cuts with the consent of the players or make some quite serious and deep redundancies.

 

"That is something we will try to avoid because value in those redundancies will centre around the playing staff and that affects the underlying value of the business.

 

"So it's a case of striking the balance of keeping the resource on the playing side which keeps the club active and competitive and attractive to a purchaser against what's needed off the field which is a sustainable and viable business.

 

"The playing squad is at the heart of what any potential purchaser is looking to acquire so therefore it is critical that we have an infrastructure that is sustainable on the pitch.

 

"We met with the players today and they know the constraints within which we are working.

 

"They are working together to see if they re-address some of the barriers that were put in place yesterday to achieve the cost-cuts which would have enabled us to complete the season's fixtures and enable us to complete a sale or more orderly transition for the business."

 

Mr Whitehouse says that the merits of the business will be open for any potential buyer to look and reiterated that Duff and Phelps are still in litigation over the recovery of funds they believe belong to the football club.

 

He said: "We have detailed financial forecasts and inventories of assets that potential purchasers can look at as well as full details of the playing squad in terms of salary packages and length of period of contracts.

 

"So they are the things they will be weighing up and one of the things they will want to understand as well is the strategy in terms of the playing staff through the management so Ally McCoist is feeding the information in that area.

 

"This will enable them to find out what kind of investment is required in the years ahead.

 

"A CVA is still very possible and the more likely route to achieve the greater value for creditors.

 

"We have to look at the time constraint and if it is possible to conclude a transaction within a very short timetable simply because we can't deliver the cost-cuts necessary to keep the fabric of the business in place then we would also have to look at selling into a newco scenario.

 

"That brings with it risks in terms of the level of European activity in the coming years and also sanctions from domestic football which would need to be subject to negotiation.

 

"If we were to look to a very early sale of the business that is probably a more likely scenario.

 

"What we don't want to do is mix the terminology here and start to portray liquidation as a process which creates the cessation of the business.

 

"The liquidation will wind up a business following the sale of the business activities into a newco.

 

"So in any scenario we would still envisage that Rangers Football Club could play football and operate as a football team.

 

"We have always said that liquidation is a possible scenario. The preferred scenario from our perspective both in terms of the return to creditors and a platform for retaining an on-going continuous business is through a CVA.

 

"That would take time to deliver and in the event that we can't bridge this funding gap which we have at the moment then we would have to look at alternative strategies.

 

"There are still some disputes over the levels of liability and certain elements of that are under litigations so we can't go into the detail of that.

 

"It is in the public domain that we have opened proceedings in a number of matters.

 

"In any scenario either through a CVA or through a distribution through an administration cycle the general body of creditors are pooled as one pot.

 

"The agreement of creditors' claims with impact quantum of the pot but it won't impact on the level of assets that fall into it for distribution.

 

"We are aware of undertakings which were provided at the time of the acquisition of the business last May and these funds do not appear to have been invested in the business in the manner in which it was envisaged at the time of the transaction.

 

"The current status of those funds is subject to the litigation that we have already opened."

Edited March 8, 2012 by Zappa

[Zappa 0]

This seems to be a major swing in what the administrators have been saying about liquidation towards it being MUCH more of a possibility.

[Bluedell 5,348]

Quelle surprise, Z

[metlika 0]

48 hours the phrase used again

[der Berliner 3,267]

A opposed to the last take-over we at least have interested parties, not just one chap with no background.

 

What he is saying clearly though is that once players and their agents agree to pay cuts the club is safer than it is now and a CVA et al can be concluded more easier.