ian1964 10,457 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 ..................from Charles Green to become new Ibrox kingpin "ACTIVIST investor" Colin Kingsnorth has snapped up more than 700,000 Rangers shares from former chairman Charles Green. A FINANCE shark with a history of boardroom wars is buying more than 700,000 Rangers shares from former chief Charles Green. Millionaire hedge fund manager Colin Kingsnorth, 49, is an â??activist investorâ? who buys small stakes in firms, then lobbies aggressively for changes which will make money for shareholders â?? including himself. When the Green deal goes through, Kingsnorthâ??s firm, Isle of Man-based Laxey Partners, will own 714,285 shares, about one per cent of Rangers. At current prices, Green would make about £350,000 from the sale. The Yorkshireman struck the Laxey deal on October 19 last year, before he had even bought into Rangers himself. He bought more than five million Ibrox shares for 1p each on October 31. Fansâ?? groups are already concerned about the impact Kingsnorth, who once owned a chunk of adult comic Viz, could have at Ibrox. Mark Dingwall of the Rangers Supporters Trust said: â??Laxeyâ??s small shareholding should not be a problem in itself but their pattern of behaviour in other companies is worrying. â??Rangers have not paid a dividend to shareholders in the last 30 years. â??We think that should continue, with profits reinvested in the team and infrastructure.â? Greenâ??s deal with Laxey was revealed by Rangers in a statement to the stock exchange. Laxey operate by looking for undervalued companies, buying into them, then trying to make sure they deliver â??shareholder valueâ?. And Kingsnorth is not afraid of taking on firmsâ?? bosses to get his way. In 2002, despite owning only three per cent of property company British Land, he forced the departure of chief executive John Ritblat. Itâ??s believed he went on to persuade the board to release more profits to shareholders. Kingsnorth admitted he borrowed 90 per cent of the shares he used as leverage to force Ritblat out. He told the British Land board there was no set time limit for the arrangement, but it was â??market etiquette to hold the borrowed stock for at least a weekâ?. The following year, Kingsnorth bought a 17.6 per cent stake in the troubled publishers of Viz. The firm, run by former Loaded editor James Brown, also owned a new title called Jack, but their value had dropped to just 5p a share with a market capitalisation of £3.5million. Kingsnorth hoped Jack would succeed and make him fat profits. But a few months after the company were sold to Dennis Publishing for £8million, Jack folded after selling only 40,000 copies. Kingsnorth is now fighting to oust the chief executive of massive Dundee-based investment company Alliance Trust. Again, he is working with a small shareholding â?? this time less than five per cent. But he has created more clout for himself by creating 100 subsidiary companies so he can take advantage of the â??100 shareholders ruleâ? â?? a legal clause which allows 100 minority investors to band together to force a vote on changes to the way a company are run. Kingsnorth hopes to force Alliance to line the pockets of their shareholders by paying out investment profits as dividends. The chief executive he hopes to remove, Katherine Garrett-Cox, ridiculed that idea, saying it â??makes Greek finances look prudentâ?. Kingsnorth went to exclusive Haileybury private school in Hertfordshire, where fees run as high as £9400 per term and former pupils include comics Dom Joly and Stephen Mangan and former Beirut hostage John McCarthy. He founded Laxey Partners in 1999 with business partner Andrew Pegge. The company are named after the village on the Isle of Man where the two men used to live as tax exiles. Kingsnorth now lives with his wife in Blackheath, London, and is a UK taxpayer. He was unavailable for comment on his Rangers investment. Greenâ??s deal with Laxey involves about 14 per cent of his 7.7 per cent stake in Rangers. He drew a £360,000 salary as Ibrox chief executive, but quit in April over claims he colluded with disgraced former owner Craig Whyte to buy the club. It emerged last week that an independent inquiry ordered by the Rangers board had found no evidence of collusion between Green and Whyte. Green said he had been vindicated. The Rangers board yesterday rejected demands by bus tycoons James and Sandy Easdale, and the mysterious Blue Pitch Holdings group, to remove former chairman Malcolm Murray and Phil Cartmell as directors. Cartmell is a non-executive director allied to Murray and new chairman Walter Smith. Blue Pitch, who own just over six per cent of Rangers, and the Easdales now have until tomorrow to withdraw their demands or force an extraordinary general meeting. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/colin-kingsnorth-who-now-owns-1934850 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,356 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Someone buys 1% of Rangers shares and it makes front page of the Daily Record? that is disturbing in so many ways. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,186 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Interesting that someone can become a business kingpin by buying up 1% of shares. I suppose the most relevant aspect of this transaction is that CG will no longer be the 'majority' shareholder when his shares transfer. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Just what we need more money to investors less to the team. Ideal. No doubt he's been sourced to lobby for the dividend that the real culprits don't want the blame for. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,290 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Neat headline by the Daily Record, ... Craig Mather, do you copy? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 (edited) Someone buys 1% of Rangers shares and it makes front page of the Daily Record? that is disturbing in so many ways. Pity it wasnt Carol Vorderman....she's like a fine wine! But jeez the guy looks a bit like Craig Whyte, same kinda eye! Edited June 6, 2013 by Gribz 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 I'm sure he'll be given a fair chance by the fair minded in our support... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 II'm sure some will make excuses for him no mater what he does. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Well not me as I wait and see on progress, i've barely commented on Mather yet for one as i'm still unsure. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Honestly...why do people even still read/buy that illiterate pamphlet of lies? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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