Dave King is on the brink of quitting Ibrox leaving Stewart Robertson and the three out of pocket bears to pick up the pieces.
By Wednesday the man described by a South African judge as a glib and shameless liar will have to offer all other shareholders 20p for each share that they own.
Two years and four months after arranging his backdoor takeover with fans chief Chris Graham, King is set to depart with the chaos at Ibrox about to be multiplied as the role of the three bears in the takeover comes under the spotlight.
For King personally the cold shoulder has little consequences, no one with any credibility in the world of finance would risk their reputation through association.
Announcing the failed appeal against the concert party ruling the Takeover Appeal Board stated: “We dismiss the appeal and affirm the ruling of the Committee, save that we vary the date and direct that within 30 days of this decision (i.e. by 12 April 2017) Mr King announce an offer pursuant to Rule 9 of the Code and, save as to the offer date, such offer to be in accordance with the Executive’s ruling of 7 June 2016, as summarised in paragraphs 19 and 20 above.”
Without the funds to underwrite the offer and no NOMAD to deal with the game is over for Mr King who will still have to answer charges from Sports Direct. A letter of intent to shareholders isn’t a prospectus.
Over at Ibrox the three bears will be pleased to have lost toxic King but now have to work out a way of stabilising a company that has never got close to break even and which carries the outrageous burden of supporter expectations/demands.
While Dave Murray and Craig Whyte bought footballers rather than pay HMRC the current regime face the dilemma of whether to repair the stadium of provide Brother Pedro with a war-chest to topple Aberdeen.
Should the takeover panel now decide to act against Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor things will get very interesting with only the panto villain of Mike Ashley left to turn to.
Whether the Sports Direct billionaire is prepared to get involved further when he owns the profitable part of the company is debatable, without a sugar daddy and no reputable fans group the tribute act has a struggle on it’s hands to reach it’s fifth birthday.
CLICK HERE for the outcome of the Takeover Appeal Board
