der Berliner 3,245 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Looks like we are in for some better news and some hectic couple of days ahead ... Craig Whyte is ready to yield control of Rangers for £1 Craig Whyte is ready to yield control of Rangers to two of the four bidders for the club for a notional £1 â?? the amount he paid Sir David Murray to effect his takeover a year ago this week. However, if the stricken institution goes down the route of a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) the new owners will have to bridge a cash gap of millions of pounds before they can sell season tickets â?? perhaps as late as the start of next season. The collapse of the bid by American businessman, Bill Miller, late on Tuesday virtually shut off the possibility of Rangers changing hands by close of play on Friday, although four bidders have now materialised in his wake. According to the senior Duff & Phelps administrator, David Whitehouse, there is still the chance that a newco could be formed almost immediately and revenue generated by season ticket sales within days. However, as is now well known, the newco option carries with it the possibility of exclusion from European football for three years, with a significant drop in revenue. â??We can confirm that, to our knowledge, there are written agreements in place with two of the bidders to transfer his shares,â? said Whitehouse of Whyte. â??People say he is selling his shares, but he is doing that for a nominal consideration of a pound. So Craig Whyte is not going to benefit from this process, but letâ??s not lose sight of the fact that Craig Whyteâ??s shares are only one hurdle towards a CVA. â??The CVA has a number of hurdles including funding and getting creditor approval. Because the process has been delayed by the time taken for bidders to come to the table, that makes a CVA more vulnerable through the process of completion. â??If we accept a bid for a CVA now a creditorsâ?? meeting is not going to happen until the end of the month - more realistically in June â?? and thatâ??s after the period we are funded for, so we would want bidders to provide funding after May. And at the same time there is a cooling-off period of 28 days after that point, so the difficulty is that you could not really issue season-ticket applications until the outcome of the CVA is secure. â??Whereas, in the Bill Miller scenario, the season-ticket applications could be issued immediately and therefore the business could generate cash from day one. A newco, we have publicly stated, ticks the boxes and is deliverable. â??What it creates is less certainty in relation to European football. There is a mechanism by which you run the parallel CVA and we join the two businesses - and therefore the club should be eligible for European football through Uefa, but itâ??s not guaranteed because it has never been tested. â??European football is very important to the business plan. Uefa say if the legal structure of the company changes there is a three-year exclusion, but if you then reverse the newco back into the old company, you can argue that you should play in Europe. â??But itâ??s an argument you would have to run with Uefa and itâ??s not black and white. The bidders are aware that if they work with a newco structure there is a very real risk of a three-year exclusion - so itâ??s a toss up between the certainty of the structure but the loss of the European income, against the European income and vulnerability of the structure.â? Apart from the renewal of interest by the Singapore-based businessman, Bill Ng â?? revealed by Telegraph Sport on Tuesday â?? and by the Sale Sharks owner, Brain Kennedy, the identities of the other bidders remained obscure on Wednesday night, although not for much longer according to Whitehouse. â??Weâ??ve had discussions with all four, but only detailed discussions with,â? he said. â??Although two of them are very late to the table they are actually very advanced in their thought process, well-engaged with advisors and well-funded. â??Both bids would be - I believe - popular with fans. They are known names in both football and in the Scottish community. There is certainly a more natural empathy with the club than Bill Miller had. There is a Rangers connection there. â??They want anonymity, but that will break over the next 24-48 hours. These bidders are in a position where they are well-known and if they put their heads above the parapet there will be a crescendo of interest and support and they donâ??t want that yet. â??They will only do so if they are in a position of likely success. Three of the four bidders are in the hands of lawyers. So are they at the forefront? They are certainly at a very advanced stage but so are two of the others. Brian Kennedy is what I would describe as the fourth bid. â??What we have tried to establish today is whether Brianâ??s discussions are on behalf of the Blue Knights or on behalf of Brian Kennedy and we await that clarity, but Brian, to be fair, has always been very clear that he considers himself to be the last man standing. â??Our point is, â??thatâ??s fine, but if you want to do a stand-alone CVA you have to offer at a level acceptable to the creditors. With the proposal they have submitted thus far the very clear indication from creditors was that it would be unacceptable. â??I think Brian is trying to find a structure that is more likely to be acceptable.â? One obvious question is that - given that Millerâ??s due diligence took four days from his emergence as a preferred bidder last Thursday - how is it possible for a buyer to seal the deal this week? â??The core concern of due diligence was the income of the club, driven by fan base and season-ticket renewals. Thatâ??s what underpins the core business plan because there is no European football next season at all. â??He formed the view that the core income of the business was too vulnerable because of the perceived negative fan reaction. If he had been more media-friendly, perhaps the reaction might have been different, but his lawyers told us that during the last three days of due diligence he was getting in excess of 1000 emails. â??When you get that level of negativity you have to query if the income is secure.â? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,050 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Walter Smith fronting for Bill McColl..... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Talk about dangling a carrot. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 0 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Walter Smith fronting for Bill McColl..... Who's Bill McColl? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 0 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 "@ScottBurns75: Former manager fronts new consortium trying to buy #Rangers. See tomorrow's Daily Express for story #rfc" Take what you will from that. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,245 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Walter Smith fronting for Bill McColl..... See, it wasn't that hard! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,050 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Talk about dangling a carrot. Are you fed up with my new happy cheery persona already ?...... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,245 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Who's Bill McColl? A Scottish millionaire with 300m to 750m pounds to burn (pending your yource) ... who did not want to get involved directly though. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 guess we will have to wait and see. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 0 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 A Scottish millionaire with 300m to 750m pounds to burn (pending your yource) ... who did not want to get involved directly though. I thought he was called Jim. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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