Rangers International’s advice to shareholders, issued last night, for next week’s General Meeting is legally spot on. They have read the contract but they’re not reading the narrative.
As they say, the club would not be bound to repay the £5m loan from MASH if shareholders vote in favour of doing so. Repaying this loan may not be in the interests of “shareholders as a whole” (I dispute this).
In asserting these views, and winning the vote on the matter, Rangers International will surely not surprise MASH.
When someone as thorough and well-resourced as Mike Ashley puts resolutions in front of you, when his motivations are “not clear to the directors”, you have to consider if you’re in a Rope-a-Dope scenario.
Without knowing anything about Ashley’s plans, I can give you an assurance that he will expect shareholders to vote against his resolution. He is asking for his money and expects this request to be declined. He is also asking searching questions about the events which led to the succession of the current board. I do not expect him to be satisfied with the answer.
The real question is, why has Ashley engineered a scenario where he has made a legitimate request for repayment and been rejected?
If you think next week’s meeting is about winning the vote you could not be more wrong. The cynic would say Ashley wants justification for what he’s about to do next.
Those shares in Rangers Retail Ltd (RRL) which are due to be returned from MASH to Rangers International on repayment of the loan are currently worth 26% of RRL. I wonder if they will be worth more than 0.1% of the company this time next month.
This is a classic Rope-a-Dope. Pay him his money, do it quickly, secure as much of your Intellectual Property as you can, as quickly as you can. This is not a matter for brinksmanship. You stupid, stupid, lemmings are walking off a cliff. Again!
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Aligned with a sectarian club and country, whodathunkitCSC
In KSA there is a city called Hail. Do you think it has a twin city called Hail?
Why Celtic not setting up a partnership there?
Seems like they have Rashid into this…
Who cares about the Saudi tie up? I’m more interested with the Sheikh-down at Mordor!
Maybe if we end up signing one of Hajer’s religious and political players and he turns out to be a star, we might see a DR headline of…..Super Caliph Goes Ballistic.
Okay, maybe not.
Dontbrattbakkinanger
You’ve got me with that post, bed now to figure it out.
H.H Mick
Ffs whats next…a hook up with the orange order.
Or maybe…some European nazi’s
Mind you….when it comes to business. ..anything is acceptable.
What a surprise eh.
HH
Canamalar
15:29 on
4 June, 2015
Club link
http://hajerclub.net/web/home/index.php/n/n1/44-2015-06-02-17-09-36.html
it was more understandable in Arabic :)
Didn’t we just buy Dedryck from Man City?
A club wholly owned by a UAE investment company from Abu Dhabi. Sharia Law is enshrined in their legal system and human rights abuses are regularly reported. Their Womens Lingerie departments are staffed by men who will not model your intended purchase for you, but they will offer advice about sex and travel while having a spliff.
Store is callled “Abu Dhabi Doobie Doo Wan Thong”
They bought Man City from Thickskin Shinawatra from Thailand. As prime minister he made Sepp Blatter look like an angel and was eventually overthrown in a military coup in 2006. He used the money he stole from the Thai people in 2006 to buy Manchester City. He has been in self imposed exile in Dubai or London since 2007.
Thickskin Shinatwatra is impervious to insults apparently.
Disnae give an Ankor Wot.
Its just as well Hitler is dead.
Im sure the plc would have put a deal together.
Shameless
Burgas…,
There is enough to be clear the the club is now aligned to a sectarian organisation, sharia politics covers every aspect of Saudi life but we shouldn’t mention that
Dontbrattbakkinanger
15:27 on
4 June, 2015
Dromedary Caldwell could feature in a flat Bactrian four
must admit thats my favorite (so far) today
HH..
Canamalar
15:41 on
4 June, 2015
Burgas…,
There is enough to be clear the the club is now aligned to a sectarian organisation.
You wont get an argument from me on that one Canamalar.
New word for today: ‘micturating’
Thanks Monaghan1900.
Árd Macha
Had to get back up out of bed there, the wee princess said.
“have you prayed to Mecca yet”
A said.
” Whit dae a know aboot bingo?
H.H Mick
I get the language violation things as weans read the blog, so why adverts for Love Honey?
Shooorly weans might have some difficult questions for their parents if the “accidentally” click on that link? :-0)
Why not go the whole hog….and invite a group of isis fighters to CP for training. .
We might get a few quite cheap….and could sell them for a tidy profit.
Ffs
HH
robinbhoy
15:49 on 4 June, 2015
I get the language violation things as weans read the blog, so why adverts for Love Honey?
Shooorly weans might have some difficult questions for their parents if the “accidentally” click on that link? :-0)
—–
I’m sure adverts are a reflection of browsing history!!!!!
Celtic don’t endorse the politics of the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Thailand any more than they do the purveyors of Citrusfest, a Scottish cultural event where many of the ‘hingers oan’ will be wearing shirts of a lower league Scottish team and where the officials will be waving something called the ‘butchers apron’. If Celtic are required to play a game against this fledgling and odious team they will do so while holding their nose.
On the basis of only playing teams from countries whose politics we find acceptable, we should back out of the CL qualies now – just in case we get drawn against a team from Israel, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, or one of the Stans (all Muslim and oppress wummin).
Anyway, stories emanating from the DR should be treated with scorn.
Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner wouldnt have a problem gaining employment in scoddland…thats for sure.
HH
Barcabhoy, occasionally of this parish, has put up a belter of a post on TSFM.
I’m sure he won’t mind it being pasted here:
Barcabhoy says:
June 4, 2015 at 2:09 pm
Sportsound raised an interesting question last night. How much money does Dave King really have ? Can he afford to put in the money he has been talking about ?
That’s always a difficult question to answer, as most people don’t provide public information on their assets and expenditures. However in King’s case it is possible to at least take an educated guess at his net worth, thanks to the information disclosed in both the SARS case against him for Tax evasion , and the fraud and racketeering trial conducted against him by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) .
Lets start at the first point made by Graham Spiers , that SARS at one point were looking for £300 million from King. That begs the question of how much money did King make if the South African state felt entitled to £300 Million. King’s jump in wealth, like most wealthy individuals , came when he sold a business. Regardless of what you read in the Sunday Times Rich List , liquidity and paper wealth are 2 very different things. It is only of few short years ago that the Sunday Times was telling us David Murray was worth £750 million thanks to his ownership of MIH , that the Miller family in Edinburgh was worth even more thanks to Miller Homes and John Kennedy was worth £350 Million thanks to owning Kenmore.
Well MIH and Kenmore went into liquidation and no payment was made to shareholders for the equity and Miller’s were rescued by the Bank and an American Private Equity business with the shareholders receiving virtually nothing for their Equity. The combined wealth of those individuals , due to ownership of their companies was estimated by the Sunday Times at just under £2 Billion. The reality when the dust cleared was that none of them got anything . There are similar stories in Ireland of paper €Billionaires who lost everything when the crisis hit, and all because they hadn’t sold their business’ when valuations were high and there was a market with potential buyers with funds .
Back though to King. He avoided the fate of those mentioned above . He owned a business listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) called Specialised Outsourcing ( SOL) . King made Rand1.2BN in profit when he sold his shares in the now defunct SOL .The share tanked when his sale became public knowledge, causing other investors huge losses. This led to accusations that he defrauded investors and lied to the JSE. This lead to a fraud and racketeering case being raised against him by the NPA . The NPA commented at the time ” ‘The prosecution is the culmination of a series of complaints received from institutional investors, which includes the South African Reserve bank, Old Mutual, Sanlam, Southern Life and Coronation,’ said a spokesperson.
‘The main thrust of the allegations is based on the alleged deliberate manipulation of financial statements, financial reports and the recorded earnings of SOL with a view to enhancing the growth profile and share price of the company.
‘These alleged misrepresentations caused the publication of reports which allegedly falsely portrayed the growth potential of investments.”
The trial collapsed when only 5 of 71 specialist witnesses for the prosecution appeared at the trial.
1.2 Billion Rand at todays value is £63 Million pounds. The value at the time of the transaction was roughly £94 Million. It is worth noting that it was shortly after the sale of Specialised Outsourcing that King invested £20 Million into Murray Sports . There is no evidence that King had significant wealth prior to SOL. He appeared to be well off , but nothing more than that .
What is unclear is whether King was able to convert currency to Sterling at that point, although it does seem that he was able to hold the sale proceeds in an Offshore Trust , out of the immediate clutches of SARS. So after all of that background it appears to be the case is that King made £94 million of which he pretty quickly spent £20 Million in Murray Sports. None of that has been returned to him in my view despite an Urban Myth that he got most of it back.
He then did what lots of newly rich individuals do. He bought a lot of toys. Vineyards , Private Jets , Artwork and Cars. This has relevance , as these were later sold to pay part of his Tax settlement. The amount that SARS were seeking was R2.7Bn . This is what was reported at that time.
“Last year ( 2012) , SARS won a court order allowing it to sell Mr King’s assets to pay his tax bill of R2.7bn, including penalties of 200% and interest.
“SARS had to take into consideration the recoverability of outstanding taxes from assets in South Africa and overseas that are currently available and measure that against the settlement offer of R706.7m,” said SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay.”
R2.7Bn has a Sterling value of £142 Million , not the £300 Million that Graham Spiers mentioned. The key though is the 200% penalties and 13 years compound interest . An initial bill for £37 Million x 200% penalties x 5% interested compounded over 13 years gets pretty much close to the claimed amount of £142 Million. It is not uncommon at all for a Tax demand on Capital profits to exceed the full amount earned when heavy penalties and compound interest is applied. So the short answer to Graham Spiers question is that the tax demanded was much less than the amount he was suggesting and that this tax demand was considerably greater than Kings net worth.
Which takes us to what can he afford. King would quite rightly answer that anyone attempting to answer that question is speculating. However here we go.
Start with £94 million and take away £20 Million invested in Murray Sports. That leaves £74 million . Now to that you would have to deduct the cost of all the boys toys King bought for himself and his living expenses . You would also have to deduct the cash element of the SARS settlement . He presumably has made a return on his capital since 2000 , although you would have to mitigate the effect of the 2007-2011 financial crisis.
Starting with £74 million it is possible to estimate the amount spent on Toys (assets) thanks to the information provided by SARS regarding his settlement
” As his outstanding debt of about R306m will be paid from cash held by an offshore trust, the family will keep the mansion in Sandhurst, estimated to be worth R85m, and holiday homes in Plettenberg Bay and Fancourt, the luxury golf estate near George.
SARS has already received about R400m through the sale of other King assets, including Quoin Rock wine farm near Stellenbosch for R85m and a Falcon jet for about R100m”
So R400M was raised by selling assets owned by King. These assets by and large are the type which will not have increased in value since purchase. They appear mostly to be depreciating assets. Therefore it is entirely possible King paid as much as R600M for these assets at the time of purchase. Without knowing which currency was used to acquire the assets it is difficult to exactly ascertain the £value . However using the exchange rate prevailing in 2000 and making the unlikely assumption that the assets did not depreciate , then R400M would equate to £31Million . This would reduce the previous figure of £74 Million down to £42 Million.
We also know , as shown above that King owned 3 family properties. Further we know from a submission to the court ( below) that he had monthly expenditures of R2.2M ( £115,000) . Annualised that is £1.38 Million.
“In 2011, he asked a court in Guernsey, where his assets were frozen in line with a request from SARS, for a monthly stipend of R2.2m, including R1m for legal expenses in South Africa, R800,000 for debts on his homes in Sandhurst, Plett and Fancourt, R200,000 for expenses on these homes, R23000 for gardeners and R40,000 for horticultural services. ”
A low risk preservation of capital investment strategy could well return 6% per annum over this period. Therefore an income of £2.5 million against expenditure of £1.4 Million . Which would enable him to have a small annual surplus for loans to or investment in his favourite football club. Things changed materially when he also had to provide a cash payment to SARS as well as the proceeds of the asset sales.
As was shown above this amounted to R306M ( £16 M) . Therefore it appears that taking this from the previous £42M estimate , would reduce the cash held to £26 Million. All of this is subjective, and all of it is King’s and SARS business, although those who see King as a saviour should have an interest in what he can really contribute. Speculative as it is it however does at least offer an explanation as to why King appears to be significantly talking down his potential investment. He has an interest in MicroMega Holdings also listed on the JSE, however like the Murray’s and others on the Sunday Times Rich List , until cash is received for equity , it is nothing more that bits of paper held in a Lawyers Office .
Derek Llambias statement of “Where is your money and your Nomad , Mr King ? ” is perfectly understandable given the estimates above. £26 Million is a very large sum , and will have wealth off the radar connotations for the average fan. However even a sum of twice as much wouldn’t be enough for most rationale individuals , with 3 homes multiple golf memberships and a family , to consider throwing away £20 Million on a football club
Celtic Soccer Academy International
I think bringing Celtic to the middle east is a great idea, but we are not officially working there at the moment, the above link tells you who what and where the teams we do officially work with in regards to player and team development are.
Hail Hail.
Glib Shameless liar, wasn’t at the match last Sunday he allegedly prefers tennis as he can watch a match without moving his head.
I hope this Saudi tie up doesn’t dish dash our policy of being a Club open to all.
rwe,
We are not talking about playing another team, we are talking about a partnership with a club that promotes sectarianism, homophobia and sexism as do all other organisations that want to exist in Saudi
Bourne
Very, very funny.
You can get a big mac and a coke in Riyadh, are they promoting all that juicy controversial stuff too ?
Hail Hail.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berat_Sadik
Latest gossip on potential signing. Could the moral squad check him out.
Any truth in the rumour that Celtic are offering discount to new ST’s of 5p a litre on Saudie petrol and zero to existing ST holders
To much interest on here regarding Sevco
Think about our own club for a change .try and force them to build decent facilities. In and around the Stadium. and if they say they can’t afford it then they are liars.so to a lot on here who seem to only talk about Sevco.think about something that could be constructive to improve a lot of things.within Celtic Park
Geordie munro
14:43 VG.
The Saudi tie up would be good for winter training camps – the weather would be Sunni all the time.
The crux of the problem that King and the three Bears have is centred on the fact that they bought their shares – and thus control of RIFC – on the open market.
Had the purchase been concluded following a formal takeover offer – and some consider that it ought to have been – it would have been subject to Due Diligence.
That is, beyond kicking the tyres and reading the public notices, they could have got under the bonnet and given RIFC a thorough inspection.
Had they done so, they would have uncovered many of the problems – the RRL deal, the ‘onerous contracts’, the causes of the cash flow crisis and so – before they bought.
But they didn’t. They looked at the share price – it was affordable; read the annual reports – they are misleading; and applied the old assumptions to RIFC, the same assumptions that both King and Paul Murray had used (to quite disastrous effect) before Rangers were liquidated.
Paul Murray hints at this when he described the bones of the ‘plan’ for RIFC shortly after winning control, the so-called “break even model”.
There is no break even model for RIFC. There is no point where income exceeds costs without the Champions League, and in order to get Champions League, they need to throw huge money at it, multiples of Barcabhoy’s estimate of Kings wealth, with absolutely no guarantee that it’ll work.
Had they carried out a diligent assessment of RIFC before the purchase, they would never have bought in.
Now that they have, now that they understand the true nature of it, the real question is: How quickly can they get out?
Paul 67
I think your article is very unkind to lemmings, which are cute little cuddly creatures (if somewhat stupid) :)
the blogger formerly known as gm
16:22 on 4 June, 2015
The Saudi tie up would be good for winter training camps – the weather would be Sunni all the time.
—-
Yes a lot better than the Shi-ite weather we can get in Scotland
Take a look at @McDonnellDan’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/606478128945332225?s=09
On the day that Celtic announced the association with a football club from Saudi Arabia they also had planned on twitter to focus on woman’s football and the promotion of the club’s woman’s team via the hashtag #AshKelly.
At first I found this to be a touch of irony but after consideration I believe it was fully planned by the club to focus on the promotion of the woman’s game while the association with a club from a country that will not legally let a woman enter a football stadium was announced.
I too find the association of my club with that of a club from Saudi Arabia and in turn the association that has with everything that that country stands for to be disgusting, inappropriate and unacceptable.
MWD said AYE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berat_Sadik
Anyone know anything about this guy? Few rumours on Twitter that he could be in after the weekend…
TBB – cyberspace has been awash with their plight and the implications of onerous contracts for years, plus you’ve got to think they had contacts on the inside.
As much as like to, I struggle to believe they all bought millions of pounds of shares on the hope everything would somehow turn out fine.