metlika 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 The Sun says Singapore, plus Fortress from America US RANGERS ... Fortress chief Edens is pondering bidEXCLUSIVE By KENNY McALPINE Published: 19 minutes ago A BILLION pound American investment bank is behind a sensational Rangers takeover bid. 0 comment SunSport can reveal that New-York based Fortress, which currently boasts assets of £27BILLION, has expressed definite interest with administrators Duff and Phelps and it is understood the Yanks' move is being taken seriously — while a Far East consortium from Singapore continue to weigh up their options. An insider close to the deal told SunSport: "This American company has piles of cash behind them and they are turn-around specialists." Fortress Investment Group was set up as a private equity firm in 1998 by mega-rich American duo Wesley Edens, 50 and Robert Kauffman, 48. Four years ago dad-of-four Edens, 51, was ranked 962 on the Forbes World rich list with a personal fortune of around £770million. Just one year earlier the magazine ranked Kauffman at 557 with a bulging bank balance of £1.1billion. Fortress began as an equity company before expanding into hedge funds, real estate and debt securities. It is unclear as yet if the corporate giants have been approached by Gers supporting businessmen trying to rescue the stricken club, who were plunged into administration last month over an unpaid tax bill. Rival bidders are preparing to show their hands as the Friday deadline looms for new owners to prove they are serious about buying the stricken SPL champs. Paul Murray and his Blue Knights, who include London-based John Bennett and Scott Murdoch and motor tycoon Douglas Park, still believe they are in pole position to snap up Rangers. Ex-director Murray, 46, who has the backing of fans groups and ex-Gers gaffer Walter Smith, inists he is confident of formalising his bid in the next 48 hours. Now he could face Stateside opposition. Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4193153/American-big-guns-make-move-for-Gers.html#ixzz1p2yaHYeQ Take that as you want, I'm taking it with a huge pinch of salt 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,455 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 (edited) A BILLION pound American investment bank is behind a sensational Rangers takeover bid. SunSport can reveal that New-York based Fortress, which currently boasts assets of £27BILLION, has expressed definite interest with administrators Duff and Phelps and it is understood the Yanks' move is being taken seriously — while a Far East consortium from Singapore continue to weigh up their options. An insider close to the deal told SunSport: "This American company has piles of cash behind them and they are turn-around specialists." Fortress Investment Group was set up as a private equity firm in 1998 by mega-rich American duo Wesley Edens, 50 and Robert Kauffman, 48. Four years ago dad-of-four Edens, 51, was ranked 962 on the Forbes World rich list with a personal fortune of around £770million. Just one year earlier the magazine ranked Kauffman at 557 with a bulging bank balance of £1.1billion. Fortress began as an equity company before expanding into hedge funds, real estate and debt securities. It is unclear as yet if the corporate giants have been approached by Gers supporting businessmen trying to rescue the stricken club, who were plunged into administration last month over an unpaid tax bill. Rival bidders are preparing to show their hands as the Friday deadline looms for new owners to prove they are serious about buying the stricken SPL champs. Paul Murray and his Blue Knights, who include London-based John Bennett and Scott Murdoch and motor tycoon Douglas Park, still believe they are in pole position to snap up Rangers. Ex-director Murray, 46, who has the backing of fans groups and ex-Gers gaffer Walter Smith, inists he is confident of formalising his bid in the next 48 hours. Now he could face Stateside opposition. Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4193153/American-big-guns-make-move-for-Gers.html#ixzz1p2yl6F00 Edited March 14, 2012 by ian1964 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I just hope that the administrators do their job properly and sell to the best bidder. At this stage I don't care if the new owner is American, Arab, far eastern or otherwise, I just want the best possible owner for the club and that's what the administrators should want as well. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 while a Far East consortium from Singapore continue to weigh up their options. Im just shy of about 10% lads, so donations are welcome. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I just hope that the administrators do their job properly and sell to the best bidder. At this stage I don't care if the new owner is American, Arab, far eastern or otherwise, I just want the best possible owner for the club and that's what the administrators should want as well. As long as he is not from Motherwell or Coatbridge. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Fortress http://www.fortress.com/ Again this is one of these where the figure stated as "assets" of 27 billion is a misleading number. It is "Assets under management" which is VERY different from "assets". Assets under management = assets which they are actively managing for clients. Assets = the companies own assets. What I will say though is that having 27 billion quid (is 44 billion USD) is a lot of assets under management so they will be generating sizeable flat fees and performance fees. Their ticker symbol on the NYSE is FIG and it would appear that the market considers them a "buy" generally. Currently trading at $3.74 with a market capitalisation of $710.24 million. Slightly disconcerting is that in one paragraph the article states that Edens is 50, then in the next paragraph it states he is 51 - that type of info shouldnt be too hard to work out... Also, rather interestingly they state their personal wealth from 2007 and 2008..... anyone care to guess what happened in those two years ? Especially in the financial markets ? These guys are hedge fund operators... so people like Edens and Kauffman took a massive bath on their personal wealth during that time..... And especially Edens who was heavily into investing in mortgages... anyone heard of Fannie Mae or Ginnie Mac ? US nationalised mortgage guarantors, Edens was heavily involved in that, and lost a ton as their values plummetted. They may not be the billionaires they are made out to be. Hard to tell as it is hard to see what wealth they have actually accumulated over time - they both came from very strong trading backgrounds (Edens, a partner from BlackRock who are MASSIVE and Kauffman who was an MD for UBS) so I am sure they amassed a considerable fortune each.... but how much of that did they invest bck into their own funds when they joined Fortress ? And given it is supposedly Fortress that are interested.... what relevance does their personal wealth have ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 We could rename Ibrox The Fortress. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dutchy Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I just hope that the administrators do their job properly and sell to the best bidder. At this stage I don't care if the new owner is American, Arab, far eastern or otherwise, I just want the best possible owner for the club and that's what the administrators should want as well. What's the chances of a fan ownership set up with all these big money men haggling over us, again? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bears 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 It bugs me that they say Singapore is in the far east. it's NOT. It's South Eat Asia. There a totally different way of living and mindset compares to the far east. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bears 0 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Does anyone else think that the Blue Knights won;t get near us? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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