Yesterday in the City of London a man stood and spoke the truth as he saw it about Rangers International Football Club.
He is a top investment analyst with a leading UK bank.
Moreover, he is the recognised AIM specialist within his organisation and it was this section of the London Stock Exchange that he was speaking to investors about.
This wasn’t a public event, it was by invitation only.
Those listening to him were senior players in the market and for them this man’s advice is gold dust.
The 45-minute presentation was about what’s hot and what’s not at the moment on the AIM.
About half an hour of his spiel was taken up with RIFC.
This man had advised his clients not to take part in the IPO in 2012.
He did advise them to buy in at 25p as he (correctly) thought that there would be a bounce after that and a quick profit could be made.
Smart man, this guy.
One of the people in the carefully selected audience had bought in on his advice and asked what he thought she should do next.
He said she should get out before the interims are published as he believes the accounts will show that RIFC are on the brink of insolvency.
He went further than that when he stated, as an assertion, that in his opinion Rangers were “trading while insolvent as of the 20th February”.
This concurs with my own sources inside the club.
As for the future, he stated to the audience:
“I believe that the current board are seriously considering an insolvency event.”
He said that this was the only way for the company to get costs down quickly.
Moreover, he also stated his belief that after a quick controlled insolvency RIFC would propose a fresh share issue.
He stated to those holding RIFC shares that there continued “to be good demand from trusts” in the AIM listed company.
However, the main thrust of his advice on RIFC was for them to sell.
He stated that, in his opinion, the intervention of Dave King did not bode well for shareholders or the value of their stockholding.
He stated that the market had “responded well to the Laxey loan” and this was because of the reputation of the hedge fund in the City.
Essentially, if Laxey are involved in a company then they will make sure that it is put on a sustainable basis if it is at all saveable.
Laxey Partners usually make money from their investments.
Despite his misgivings about the future role of the South African entrepreneur, he thought Laxey would prevail and protect their investment in RIFC.
This City expert stated that, in his estimation, Dave King wanted to gain control of the stadium and ipso facto the franchise by acquiring Ibrox in a liquidation sale.
