Craig Whyte splashes out £1 asking price for Rangers
Constant 48 hour deadlines and d-days have come and gone over the last few months but Whyte appears now to be pushing his bid through despite the hostility of the Takeover Panel on the Rangers board.
After two days of talks in Edinburgh between Sir David Murray and Whyte an agreement has been reached between the two main players with Murray receiving a token £1 for his shareholding in the club.
Tonight a company called Wavetower Limited announced that they had bought 92,842,388 ordinary shares worth 85.3% of Rangers for £1 from Murray Holdings Limited.
At the peak of his powers Murray had goaded the Celtic board that for every fiver they spent on the team he’d spent a tenner.
The result of that doomed policy has came home to roost with the Rangers chief selling up for £1.
News throughout the last few days of technical difficulties is hardly a surprise with the ownership of Rangers extremely complex.
While Murray is credited with ownership South African based Dave King is believed to have a 25% holding in Murray Sports that can veto any deal.
Lloyds TSB have a 25% stake in Murray International Holdings as their own security on the overall debts of the group.
Whether the £100m rated properties of Ibrox Park and Murray Park are included in the deal is unclear with Whyte refusing to utter a word in public about his aims or plans for Rangers.
As the secretive business edges towards a conclusion Celtic supporters can only be grateful that their own club’s takeover was conducted in an open if dramatic manner back in 1994.
And when Fergus McCann sold off his 51% shareholding in the club he banked £40m or 40,000,000 times more than the selling price of the man who promised to always outspend him!
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