DAVE KING has withdrawn from his agreement to sell his major shareholding in Rangers to Club 1872.
The former Ibrox chairman struck a multi-million pound deal with the supporter body to transfer his stake in RIFC plc in December 2020.
But the slow uptake from members has forced King to cancel the initiative and the remainder of his 14.47 per cent shareholding will remain in the ownership of New Oasis Asset Limited.
The fan organisation had been given an initial three year window in order to complete the share purchase as King expressed his hope that supporters would make the most of their chance to own a major stake in Rangers.
But the bid to attract up to 20,000 'legacy members' has fallen short and the Ibrox board have utilised their own funding streams as relations with Club 1872 have hit rock bottom in recent years.
In a statement on Tuesday, King said: “It is with disappointment that I advise that the agreement for Club 1872 to acquire my shareholding in Rangers has been terminated. This year was to be the final year of the agreement and despite my previously stated intentions to extend the agreement (to provide Club 1872 with more time) it has become clear that this will be futile.
"A review of the share purchases undertaken last month reveals that the take-up for the two years to December 2022 is so far short of the agreed amounts that further extensions will not have any meaningful impact in the next few years.
"When I initiated the Never Again campaign I had hoped that supporters would take advantage of my offer to become the largest shareholder in the Club but this never materialised despite the efforts of myself and Club 1872 to promote this campaign. My feedback on the possible reasons for this are:
1. Some supporters prefer to own shares directly.
2. Some supporters would support joint fan ownership but not within Club 1872.
3. The difficult economic conditions.
4. Supporters no longer feel that the Club is under threat.
5. The Club’s recent campaign against Club 1872 and its officers.
"I think that a combination of the above is correct and will remain as such for the foreseeable future.
"Over the last few weeks I have considered whether my dream of supporter ownership could be achieved by extending the offer to other supporter groups in addition to Club 1872 but there is no indication that this will make a material difference. In addition, the Club’s success with its restrictive resolution at the recent AGM imperils any would-be shareholder.
"I will continue to vote my shareholding as a supporter and in the best interests of the Club.”
Club 1872 are the sixth largest shareholders in Rangers and the £13million agreement with King was designed to give them a significant say in the running of the club at boardroom level.
But the Ibrox investors will now look to explore other avenues to boost their shareholding after seeing their once in a generation chance come to a premature end.
A statement read: "We can confirm that Dave King has terminated the agreement with Club 1872 to purchase his shares. Whilst disappointed at this outcome, we acknowledge that Dave and his Trustees had the legal right to withdraw under the agreement, as Club 1872 did not reach the minimum required purchases for the first two years of the agreement.
"We were pleased to be able to increase the Club 1872 shareholding significantly, at a substantial discount of 20p per share, during the period of the agreement and under extremely challenging circumstances.
"We would like to thank Dave for the opportunity he presented to supporters and we will now focus on increasing the Club 1872 shareholding through other avenues. The Club 1872 Board has already indentified a number of opportunities to do so and we will be communicating further with Contributors in the coming days."
