Rangers consider rights issue
Rangers are considering a “substantial” rights issue to reduce their debt after majority shareholder David Murray admitted the club might be in trouble with the bank if his trading company was not profitable.
The Glasgow club have made substantial efforts to cut costs in a bid to fight debts which amount to around £65m (€96.6m), the largest slice of which is due in 2008.
And, while Murray – a former chairman at Ibrox – is content with the progress that has been made, he admits more drastic measures may have to be taken if the club fails to meet targets by the end of a three-year plan in 2005.
Murray, who has already invested £40m (€59.4m), including the £6.5m (€9.7m) he paid to buy Rangers 16 years ago, told the Financial Times: “We will have to do a substantial rights issue, of which I would subscribe for my fair share.”
He added: “We need to regroup, refinance and get the club on an even keel, and I have never denied that is a responsibility.
“We have got the club trading pretty level now. We have got a tremendous stadium at £100m (€148.6m), a training ground, a playing squad – assets of £150m (€222.9m) – but there is a rump of debt that will eventually have to be attacked.”
Murray’s personal fortune has been estimated at around £450m (€668.6m) and his holding company Murray International Holdings is one of the largest private firms in Scotland.
And the steel magnate revealed he has been able to shelter Rangers from the worst of what he called “the cyclical downturn of football".
“If I did not have a trading company that is making money, the bank would look on it differently,” he said.
