Monday 12 January 2015 19:51, UK
Robert Sarver says he walked away from Rangers after failing to get them 'around the table' to discuss his offer for a controlling interest in the club..
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports News HQ, the American financier revealed he had no option but to pull out of any deal after his second offer of £20m was rejected by the board of the Scottish Championship club.
"I never could get them to engage meaningfully in any discussion, at the end of the day that's why I formally withdrew my bid because I couldn't get them to the table," said Sarver, the majority owner of NBA side Phoenix Suns.
"I never received a counter offer or any discussion of substance. I knew their issues were short-term funding and they didn't want to delude current shareholders, but those two things are really hard to do at the same time because the club, as most people know, needs funding.
"My first offer was to inject capital into the company on a long-term basis through a share issue and that was £18m that was to go into the club.
My first offer was to inject capital into the company on a long-term basis through a share issue and that was £18m that was to go into the club.
"But also as part of the condition for my first offer was that they couldn't sell any players and then the day after I submitted the offer they sold one of the more promising young players (Lewis Macleod) so that deal was kinda crushed.
"My second offer that I came back with tried to give them more flexibility, so what I agreed to do was around £6.5m to help with the short term cash flow issues and then give the board the discretion to sell me between £16m and £20m of equity as they saw fit, so they could minimise the delusion if they wanted or they could sell me more shares or put more money in the club.
"But regardless my plan was to try and permanently capitalise the club over the next two or three years and give them the best chances to be successful and get back to being one of the top two teams in the Scottish league.
"The £6.5m was a loan and repaid to the share issuers, and the new capital going in to the club was between £16m to £20m, and then the additional money that I was to offer up was to pay shareholders was £16m, but my hope was most of them would stay in. But, under the laws of the London Stock Exchange you have to make that offer to all the other shareholders."
Asked if he was acting alone in his attempt to take control of the Glasgow club, Sarver added: "Everyone over-read my interest, it was just really, really simple, it was just my family looking to make an investment in soccer. We had hired a firm and were going down the path of looking for an investment in either England or Spain.
"My kids' soccer coach Davie Robertson said 'hey you need to look at this team I used to play for and the timing's great, they really need the money and some help and you ought to look at it'.
"The more I looked at it the more I liked it, it was just as simple as that. I never met anyone who had anything to do with the club."
The more I looked at it the more I liked it, it was just as simple as that. I never met anyone who had anything to do with the club.
Sarver's hopes of gaining the required 75 per cent vote were badly hit last week when the Three Bears - wealthy supporters Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor - and then Dave King made two surprise share purchases, handing them control of 34 per cent of the club.
An earlier Rangers statement read: "The revised proposal by Mr Sarver was similar to the first proposal that it sought a placing of 100 million shares which would require the approval of shareholders at a general meeting.
"The board of Rangers rejected the first proposal from Mr Sarver on January 6 on the basis that the board felt it was unlikely that the approval of shareholders holding sufficient shares would be forthcoming.
"Following receipt of the revised proposal, the board sought the views of a number of major shareholders and has reached the same conclusion, namely that the resolution to approve the placing is unlikely to achieve the 75 per cent majority required.
"Accordingly, once again, the directors do not intend to hold the General Meeting which would be necessary to implement the revised proposal."
