A FAN group that became one of Rangers' biggest shareholders is polling members on a request not to sell their shares to Ibrox chairman Dave King as part of a court-ordered £11 million bid.
In December Lord Bannatyne ordered that Mr King make the bid for most of the club's shares after ruling he acted with other shareholders to take control in 2015, ousting a board of directors said to be allied to Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.
The Club 1872 shareholder group believes a decision not to sell shares to will boost Mr King in his long running dispute with the Takeover Panel over the bid.
The Ibrox chief has been fighting through the courts to stave off pressure to buy the shares, fearing the heavy financial toll it would place on him.
The judge-ordered bid would fail if it does not get a 50% shareholder acceptance level.
Lord Bannatyne supported the Takeover Panel's view that a formal takeover should have been triggered after the Three Bears group led by Mr King secured more than 30 per cent of the voting rights in Rangers four years ago.
Under Takeover Code rules, a written offer to shareholders had to be made within 28 days of a bid announcement being made on March 29 - but so far it has not been forthcoming.
Mr King has previously argued that a judge went "too far" in ordering him to make a mandatory offer at a price of 20p a share and has said there has been a hold up because of the difficulty in getting funds from South Africa to the UK.
The Rangers chief has already been told that he is in breach of takeover rules by failing to make the mandatory bid.
One of the key outstanding issues still to be overcome by Mr King is to have a third party provide cash confirmation that the money for the judge-ordered bid for shares is actually there.
Under Takeover Code rules if the confirmation is given and the money is not there, the Panel can bring an action against the third party 'guarantor' to recover the money for shareholders.
Club 1872 are now asking members whether they should sign an “irrevocable undertaking” that they will not sell.
The deadline for the poll is midnight on Wednesday September 26.
Club 1872 told members: "We have been asked whether our CIC [community interest company] will sign an irrevocable undertaking not to sell our shares in RIFC at a price of 20p. This may assist in bringing matters with the panel to an end by persuading them to reduce the cash confirmation they will require before an offer can be made. Such a decision is clearly one to be taken by our members.
"We would therefore ask you to vote by clicking the link below and logging in to your account – you will then be automatically redirected to the poll."
The message claims that the Takeover Panel action was prompted by a complaint from ousted Rangers chairman David Somers. The fan shareholder group said: "The action by the Panel is just one unfortunate consequence of Somers’ time at our Club. We need hardly remind members of other misfortunes that befell the club during the period he was chairman.
"As members will be aware, the purpose for which Club 1872 was formed was to acquire shares in RIFC, not to sell them. Far less to sell them at the same price we have just acquired them in the share issue and dilute our influence and participation in RIFC."
Mr King's South African-based Laird Investments (Proprietary) Limited firm had said in aMarch 29 announcement that the bid would be funded "using the receipt of dividends" amounting to £13,074,842.90 which was "to be declared on April 4".
Under Takeover Code rules, a written offer to shareholders had to be made within 28 days of a bid announcement being made on March 29.
After the money did not appear, Rangers International Football Club plc later said it understood that the funds for the offer were there and that Mr King's South African-based Laird Investments (Proprietary) Limited was seeking South African government approval to allow the money for the offer to be transferred to the UK.
Mr King had stated previously that the delay in making the bid was a result of the Takeover Panel requiring funds of around £11m to be held in a UK account rather than South Africa, where he is resident.
But the Takeover Panel suggested there was a lack of clarity over his attempts to move the funds.
And Mr King has accused the panel of "bullying" adding that he required exchange control to move the funds to London.
In April, a letter to shareholders from John Bennett, the chairman of an "independent directors" group of RIFC said that an original announcement from Mr King's company had not been "cash confirmed" by a third party as required by Rule 2.7(d) of the Takeover Code.
He said in a circular that "this will be addressed promptly" after April 4 so that when the official offer to shareholders is made, the cash to fund it will be ringfenced by a third party.
The King-led takeover group – which included Park's Motor Group founder Douglas Park, Rangers Supporters Trust and Rangers First member George Taylor and Rangers fan George Letham – had always denied that they had acted 'in concert' to purchase shares in Rangers on December 31 2014 and January 2, 2015.
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