Should David Cunningham King not make good on the directions of the Takeover Panel Executive to issue a share prospectus for the purchase of all shares not held by his concert party, by close of business on 12 April 2017, he will be in breach of the Executive’s codes and subject to disciplinary proceedings. There is no wriggle room here. King has lied and obfuscated all the way to a Takeover Panel Appeal Board, which is an independent body. In upholding the Takeover Panel Executive’s decision that King acted in concert with Messrs Letham, Park & Taylor, the TPE are duly authorised to direct King and institute disciplinary proceedings should he not comply with their directions. If a prospectus is not published offering 20p per share to the 65.95% stake that is not held by the concert party i.e. 56,627,350 shares, and if fully subscribed pay £11,325,470 to procure them, King will be subject to disciplinary proceedings.
If one includes the cost of producing a prospectus, including professional fees, of circa £2.27m, and includes the £500,000 costs of the TPE, King will have to deposit just north of £14m in an escrow account to the satisfaction of a nominated adviser.
King does not have £14m. Even if he had access to this amount in South Africa he would be prohibited from taking it out of the country. Club 1872 do not have £14m at their disposal. The compromised and formally besmirched Three Bears could loan King £14m, but are most unlikely to do so as King is a shyster career criminal. If one sets aside the unanimous findings of Appeal Court Judges at South Gauteng High Court, who deemed that King was ‘a glib and shameless liar‘ one can look to a more local perspective on King’s integrity or lack thereof, by soliciting the opinion of the CEO of a respected hedge fund, Colin Kingsnorth of Laxey Partners:
“Kingsnorth told us (Letham, Park & Taylor) how he disliked Dave King intensely and he had Dave King in the same office we were in and at first they kicked him out after 30 minutes… He said he didn’t trust Dave King and wouldn’t do business with him”.
King is a pariah now, so why should the ultimate sanction of the Takeover Panel Executive concern him? He is based in South Africa, far removed from the opprobium of the City of London.
It is my firmly-held conviction, and I have been proven to be on the money in regard to King time and time again, that King will be subject to disciplinary proceedings and receive a formal Cold Shoulder from the Executive for breaches of code 9 in their statutes. The Cold Shoulder is the financial equivalent of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Black Spot‘ but has inordinately more severe implications than this literary device.
In essence, The Cold Shoulder prohibits any bank, hedge fund, or financial institution under the auspices of the FCA to have any dealings with David Cunningham King. It would not be in the best interests of Metro Bank, The Rangers’ current bank, to continue its relationship with any company where King is a director. The Cold Shoulder is absolute. It’s scope is far-reaching. It is such a severe restriction that it has only been issued on three occasion. King would be the fourth in a small rogue’s gallery.
Tricky Dicky Wilson, the Hun’s Hun at the BBC, who at one time moonlighted from his role as a journalist at The Herald to punt shares for Charles Green, is no stranger to a prospectus. Wilson opines that King can ignore the Takeover Panel Executive as he resides in South Africa, outwith their jurisdiction.
However, to put it politely, he is talking out of a hole in his alimentary canal reserved for horse shit. If King remains the Chairman of RIFC and is given the Cold Shoulder, The Rangers Football Club Limited will also effectively be given the Cold Shoulder.
TRFCL will be pariahs in the city. Should Pedro Caixinha attempt to buy a player, he won’t be given terms to pay as all clubs’ bankers will shun his club. I would go further to contend that they would not buy players from, or sell players to, Rangers. All financial transactions, including loans of players, would end.
As I stated in my latest article, the Takeover Takedown has delivered a knockout blow to King. If he drags himself up from the canvas and touches gloves for Rangers, their TKO is imminent.
