Rangers administrators still 'unable to reveal' pence in pound CVA offer

Rangers: Administrators are still unable to tell creditors what they can expect to receive.SNS Group

Rangers administrators are still unable to say what pence in the pound deal they are going to offer creditors worth up to £134m.

The insolvency firm running the Ibrox club was finally due to put forward proposals for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) on Tuesday morning.

However, joint administrator Paul Clark revealed in an interview with BBC Scotland that they are still not in a position to confirm what percentage of payment they are offering creditors, and will not likely know until they are scheduled to vote on it on June 14. He still claimed it represented the "best deal for creditors".

London firm Ticketus, which reached a £25.3m agreement with owner Craig Whyte over future Ibrox season tickets, said on Tuesday it had been sent CVA proposals from administrators on Monday night. It declined to reveal the pence in the pound payment plan the arrangement offered.

Former Sheffield United chief executive Charles Green is heading up the consortium that claims to have £8.5m to pay the fees of administrators Duff and Phelps and secured creditors, before the remaining money is used to fund a CVA offer.

The proposals require 75% of creditors to vote in favour of it to be accepted and allow Rangers FC plc, incorporated in 1899, to continue in existence.

If the vote fails to get the numbers required, then the club's assets will be sold to a new company and the old one will be liquidated, which is known as a newco switch.

In the interview on Tuesday morning, Mr Clark said creditors "won't know for certain the distribution they will receive" but he was "delighted with the progress made".

He also confirmed they had not struck any deal for payment with the club's two biggest creditors, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Ticketus.

Mr Green has so far revealed very little about his group, which he claims is made up of 20 individuals and families from across the world. So far he has named Malaysian hotelier Jude Allen, also known as Javed Abdullah, and Middle Eastern lawyer Mazen Housammi as being members of it.

Mr Allen told STV News that stockbroker Imran Ahmad is the financial adviser to the group, but the Zeus Capital worker who attended a meeting with Scottish Premier League and Scottish FA representatives alongside Mr Green has not responded to attempts to contact him regarding the takeover.

Sevco group

According to Mr Green, the consortium is known as the Sevco group. The businessman, who recently stood down from his post with Singapore-based mining investment company Nova Resources, is currently listed as the sole director of Sevco 5088 Limited - the possible newco Rangers in waiting - which is registered to the London offices of legal firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, which is brokering the deal.

The two major creditors the 140-year-old club hope will accept payments of fractions of what they are owed are London ticketing agency Ticketus and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Ticketus struck a £25.3m deal with current owner Craig Whyte for a personal right to a licence to sell around 100,000 season tickets at Ibrox until 2015.

Duff and Phelps have formally breached the agreement after receiving confirmation from the Court of Session that they could do so if it was in the interests of all creditors, which has meant that Ticketus are now owed around £27m. HMRC is due a minimum of £14m from Rangers after the club did not pay any PAYE or VAT from Mr Whyte's takeover last May until they were plunged into administration on February 14 this year.

The tax was deducted from employees' wages but was never handed over to the authorities, while the amount HMRC is owed could increase by up to £79m, depending on the outcome of the 'big' tax case at the first tier tribunal which is over the use of tax avoidance by Rangers on an industrial scale from 2001 to 2010 under former owner Sir David Murray and his implementation of employee benefit trusts (EBTs) to pay staff and players.

Creditors are scheduled to vote on the CVA proposals on June 14, before there is a 28-day period in which those owed money would have an opportunity to challenge the result of this.

Administrators claim any proceeds from the £25m court action it has taken against Mr Whyte's parent company Rangers FC Group and his former lawyer Collyer Bristow would eventually be put towards paying off creditors, while they have also stated that any outstanding transfer amounts owed to the club will be used to pay off creditors as well.

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