Rangers owner Craig Whyte agrees to sell his 85% shareholding in club

Rangers owner Craig Whyte has reached an agreement to sell his shares in the Ibrox club with at least one bidder.

Administrators Duff and Phelps confirmed the owner was prepared to sell his 85% stake and had given assurances he would not stand in the way of any sale.

Joint administrator Paul Clark said: “We have continued discussions today with the parties remaining in the bidding process and good progress has been made.

“We can also confirm that Craig Whyte has confirmed that he will transfer his shareholding in Rangers Football Club to two of the parties and has indicated he would not be an impediment to a sale of the club."

The amount the Rangers owner would make from the sale is unclear, but in a newspaper interview joint administrator David Whitehouse claimed Mr Whyte had sent written agreements to several bidders confirming he would complete the transaction for £1.

It comes after conflicting reports over the future of Rangers, with administrators claiming they have received three new bids for the club after the collapse of American Bill Miller’s offer.

A UK-based consortium, a group from out with the UK and a consortium led by Singaporean businessman Bill Ng, who previously pulled out of the running for Rangers citing issues with the process, have all reportedly expressed an interest in taking over the club.

Administrators are adamant there is real finance behind all of them and all are capable of being completed before the end of the SPL season on Sunday.

In an interview with the Daily Record, Mr Whitehouse said: "We can confirm that, to our knowledge, there are written agreements in place with two of the bidders to transfer his shares.

"People say he is selling his shares, but he is doing that for a nominal consideration of a pound. So Craig Whyte is not going to benefit from this process."

However, sources close to the man who bought Rangers for a nominal £1 from Sir David Murray claim he has only reached an agreement with one of the bidders for the club that are looking to secure a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) being reached with the creditors, who are owed anything between £55m and £134m.

Mr Whyte previously rejected claims that he had agreed to sell his shares in Rangers to the Blue Knights takeover consortium, which is fronted by former club director Paul Murray. The Blue Knights, who were later joined by Sale Sharks Rugby Union Club owner Brian Kennedy, have not yet submitted a new bid for the club.

He struck a £25.3m deal with London firm Ticketus for 100,000 future Ibrox season ticket sales, which he used to wipe off the club’s £18m debt to Lloyds Banking Group. Mr Whyte’s agreement with Ticketus followed a similar deal the club struck in 2009 while Sir David still owned Rangers.

As a result of a Court of Session ruling on the deal, Ticketus is now likely to become a creditor of Rangers owed around £27m should the deal be torn up. The branch of Octopus Investments has indicated it is going to launch legal action against Mr Whyte over the £27m personal guarantees he gave them over the deal.

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