Rangers takeover: Sky Sports shares new update on 49ers bid
Rangers are the subject of a shock takeover bid from 49ers Enterprises and Sky Sports have shed light on the state of play at Ibrox.
It emerged on Wednesday (19 February) night that 49ers Enterprises are in talks over buying Rangers, with negotiations touted to be at an advanced stage.
The proposed deal stands to benefit the Scottish Premiership giants as it would bring in a massive cash injection that would in turn allow them to fund a summer spending spree.
However, with Rangers’ shares currently split between multiple shareholders, the potential buyers would need to convince all parties over a deal if they want to become the single largest shareholder as proposed.
| Rangers Shareholders | Share (Round) |
| Dave King | 13% |
| Douglas Park | 12% |
| George Taylor | 10% |
| Stuart Gibson | 9.5% |
| John Bennett | 7% |
| Julian Wolhardt | 6.7% |
| John Halsted | 6% |
Sky Sports drop ‘no deal’ update at Ibrox
American investors, including the San Francisco 49ers, are indeed in talks over a multi-million-pound takeover of the Gers, according to Sky Sports.
However, the broadcasters reported via their website on 19 February that no deal has yet been agreed upon between the parties involved.
Shedding further light on the developments, Sky revealed that Paraag Marathe, 49ers Enterprises president and Leeds United chairman, is involved in talks to ‘take control at Ibrox’.
The Light Blues, meanwhile, are strapped for cash after posting £17.2million in losses at Ibrox last year, but refused to comment on the takeover talks, and so did Leeds and San Francisco 49ers.
Rangers set to have new owners
As mentioned, Rangers’ shares are split into small fragments between several people, with Dave King being the major shareholder with a stake of around 13 per cent.
Douglas Park comes in at second, holding 12 per cent of the shares, while George Taylor is a close third at 10 per cent.
Stuart Gibson, John Bennett, Julian Wolhardt and John Halsted all have stakes between six and 10 per cent at Ibrox.
It is evident that the 49ers want to become the single largest shareholder at Rangers and subsequently demand seats in the boardroom.
This means the Marathe-led consortium would have to convince some of the existing shareholders to sell their stakes to take control of the Glasgow-based club.
It remains to be seen if that will be the case in the coming weeks.