Ownership Of Rangers F.C.
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Rangers is a Scottish
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
and founded in 1872. The club's corporate entity was created in 1899 when The Rangers Football Club Ltd was formed as a
privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...
. In 2000, the then chairman and owner David Murray floated the club on the stock market which subsequently converted the private company into a
public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a limited liability co ...
(PLC). In 2012, The Rangers Football Club PLC entered
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...
and the company's business and assets, including Rangers F.C., Ibrox Stadium and the Rangers Training Centre were bought by Sevco Scotland Ltd. Sevco Scotland Ltd later changed its name to The Rangers Football Club Ltd. The Rangers International Football Club PLC was then formed as a holding company by The Rangers Football Club Ltd, with the latter becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the former. On 30 May 2025, Rangers announced that a consortium headed by US businessman Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
, had purchased 51% of shares to compete a multi-million pound takeover of the club.


Prior to incorporation

The football club was formed in 1872 and was operated by the four founders until its incorporation on 27 May 1899. When the club was incorporated, a
limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...
(The Rangers Football Club Ltd) was formed and the club then had its legal personality, with directors and liabilities in accordance with the Companies Act.


Corporate history


Minority shareholdings

From the company's formation in 1899, no single shareholder obtained a large enough shareholding to have a majority (and thereby be deemed the owner). From 1963, John Lawrence (Glasgow) Ltd began increasing its shareholding in the company, eventually becoming the largest shareholder with 15%. John Lawrence of John Lawrence (Glasgow) Ltd, became the club's Chairman and served for nearly ten years, retiring in 1973 due to ill health. On Lawrence's death in 1977, his shareholding in the Lawrence Group, and in its business, was transferred to his grandson Lawrence Marlborough. The following years saw a steady increase in the Lawrence Group's shareholding in the club.


Lawrence Group

In 1985, the Lawrence Group increased its shareholding in Rangers to a 52% majority, following a deal with then club vice-chairman Jack Gillespie. In November 1988, head of the Lawrence Group Lawrence Marlborough sold the company to Murray International Holdings for £6 million.


Murray International Holdings

Between 1988 and 2011 Scottish steel magnate David Murray was the owner of Rangers, after he had purchased the company for £6 million, via his company Murray International Holdings. During the late 1990s Murray increased the club's player transfer budget in an attempt to succeed in both domestic and European football. High-profile players such as Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup joined the club during this time. After
Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...
became manager, Murray again sanctioned some large transfer spending on players such as Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer - the former being the most expensive player signed by a Scottish club. The corporate identity controlling the club underwent a change in 2000 when Murray decided to list the company on the stock exchange, making it a
public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a limited liability co ...
. Murray stated his plan to grow Rangers into a global brand to compete with the likes of English Premier League champions
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
. The name of the company was subsequently amended to The Rangers Football Club Plc. On 5 July 2002, Murray had relinquished the chairmanship and limited his day-to-day involvement in the club's running but his status as by far the largest share-holder remained. Murray's decisions while chairman continued to impact Rangers and several years of significant overspending saw debts of £65m being accrued. On 1 September 2004, Murray announced his return to the chairmanship, with debts having increased to £72m during his absence. A share rights-issue was quickly devised with a target to raise £57m in order to reduce the company's debt. In December 2004, the issue was concluded with £51.4m being raised, almost £6m less than hoped for, and with Murray responsible for over £50m of that through one of his other companies - Murray MHL Limited. Essentially by doing this, Murray increased his shareholding in Rangers to 91.8% of the total stock, and intrinsically link the finances of Rangers Football Club Plc with Murray MHL Limited. During the course of Murray's ownership, payments to some staff and players were made via a scheme known as an Employee Benefit Trust, this occurred between 2001 and 2010. EBTs were reviewed by
HMRC His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...
and deemed by them to be illegal tax avoidance schemes which allowed Rangers players and staff to pay less tax on what they were paid. Murray denied that any tax avoidance took place with regards to this EBT scheme during his stewardship. This ultimately led to HMRC posting Rangers with a fine of £49 million, inclusive of interest and penalties, and served to confirm the need, on Murray's part, to sell his shareholding in the club.


Whyte and The Rangers FC Group

After protracted takeover negotiations with David Murray, the club was bought by Scottish businessman Craig Whyte on 6 May 2011 for £1, through his company Wavetower Limited (subsequently renamed The Rangers FC Group Limited). The deal came with stipulations, such as paying off the club's £18m debt to
Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...
, and making further investment in the team. Early into Whyte's reign at the club, doubts and allegations began to surface relating to his business past, most notably a documentary by
BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...
that reported Whyte had previously been banned from being a Director of any UK companies. It was also disclosed that Whyte did not pay the £18m Lloyds debt as stipulated in the takeover deal, but instead secured a £27m deal with ticketing company Ticketus against future season ticket sales, to pay the debt. On 13 February 2012 Whyte filed legal papers at the
Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...
giving notice of an intention to appoint Administrators. On 14 February 2012, The Rangers Football Club Plc, which was subsequently renamed RFC 2012 plc, entered administration over non-payment of £9 million in PAYE and VAT taxes to HM Revenue and Customs. Entering administration meant the team was docked 10 points by the SPL, effectively ending its 2012 Championship challenge. In April 2012, the administrators estimated that the club's total debts could top £134m. On 25 June 2012, the Crown Office asked Strathclyde Police to investigate the purchase of Rangers and the Club's subsequent financial management during Whyte's tenure.


The Green consortium and floatation

Sevco Scotland Ltd was formed on 29 May 2012 as a means for Charles Green to acquire the assets of Rangers FC. Sevco Scotland Ltd (subsequently renamed The Rangers Football Club Ltd.) was formed to ensure that if the formation of a new company was required in the event of a CVA being rejected, then the club's corporate entity would be a Scottish registered company as it has always been. When the CVA later failed, the assets of The Rangers Football Club Plc (subsequently renamed RFC 2012 plc) were then sold for £5.5 million. Charles Green also incorporated another company, Sevco 5088 Limited, on 29 March 2012, which lent some money to The Rangers Football Club Ltd in May 2012. Sevco Scotland Limited was formed in May 2012 to purchase the assets of The Rangers Football Club Plc (which was subsequently renamed RFC 2012 plc), incorporated in 1899, which went out of business and entered
liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...
procedures on 14 June 2012. After Sevco purchased the business and assets of The Rangers Football Club Plc, including Rangers Football Club and Ibrox Stadium, several players agreed to have their contracts transferred to the new company. Some players left to join other clubs as free agents since their former employer had been in breach of contract. After an application to transfer the old company's
Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...
membership was rejected, an application to join the
Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...
was accepted with the club being placed in the third division. The Rangers Football Club Plc's SFA membership share was transferred to Sevco Scotland Ltd on 27 July 2012. Sevco Scotland Ltd was renamed The Rangers Football Club Ltd on 31 July 2012. On 14 June 2012,
HMRC His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...
's formal rejection of the proposed CVA meant that the company would enter the
liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...
process. The accountancy firm BDO were appointed to investigate financial mismanagement at the club. On the same day Sevco Scotland Ltd acquired various assets including Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park, as well as intellectual property, goodwill and various contracts. As a result of the liquidation process, the extent to which Rangers can be regarded as a continuation of the club founded in 1872 has been interpreted differently. Rangers Football Club was described by some in the mainstream media as a "new club", whilst Chief Executive Charles Green maintained "this is still Rangers", with the SPL chairman Neil Doncaster saying "it is an existing club, even though it's a new company". Towards the end of August 2012, it was reported that Arif Naqvi, chief executive of private equity firm Abraaj Capital, owned just under 18% of The Rangers F.C. Ltd's shares via Blue Pitch Holdings, after having agreed to invest £2m in June 2012. Other investors included Imran Ahmad and Richard Hughes, from Zeus Capital, owning 9.8% each (Hughes had a 6.8% stake in Rangers). Rangers manager
Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...
was reported to own a share of about 4.5% with Scottish-based businessman Ian Hart, who was part of the Blue Knights group, also owning a shareholding of 1.3%. The Blue Knights were one of several groups or individuals that had expressed an interest in taking over the club. Other shareholders in the club included Alessandro Celano and Chris Morgan. On 16 November 2012, a company called Rangers International Football Club plc was formed and listed on the
Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market, Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in opera ...
of the
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and became the holding company for The Rangers Football Club Ltd., which, in turn, owns the football club. After the formation of new holding and listed company for the club: Rangers International Football Club Plc ("RIFC"), it was reported in an AIM announcement on 5 December 2012 that Charles Green owned a 14.9% shareholding in the company, with Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley having an 8.9% stake. Green and Ashley's shares were projected to fall to 8.67% and 5.20% of the share capital of RIFC respectively after the company's flotation on the stock market and acquisition of the entire share capital of the club. Other shareholders, both before and after the flotation, were also revealed including Blue Pitch Holding, Margarita Funds Holding Trust, Craig Mather, Norne Anstalt, Legal & General Investment Management Limited, Insight Investment Management (Global) Limited, Cazenove Capital Management Limited, Hargreave Hale Limited and Artemis Investment Management LLP. After departing as Chief Executive, Charles Green sold his shareholding to Sandy Easdale, co-owner of
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in August 2013. Easdale increased his stake to 4.52% in November 2013, and then to 5.21% in September 2014. The latter gave Easdale control of 26.15% of the issued share capital, since he already held the voting rights for 20.94% of the company.
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
-based hedge fund Laxey Partners were revealed to be the new largest shareholder in RIFC in November 2013 with a 11.64% stake, and later further increased this to 16.3%. In September 2014, a share issue raised £3.13m. In October 2014, Mike Ashley increased his shareholding to 8.92%. In December 2014, Laxey sold their shareholding to a group of businessmen made up of Douglas Park and existing shareholders George Letham and George Taylor. In January 2015, former Rangers director Dave King purchased 14.57% of RIFC's shares from Artemis and Milton.


Blue Knights

The start of 2015 saw Ashley's control over Rangers weakened as deals were made with a consortium led by Dave King, to purchase the shareholding of Laxey Partners which had stood at 16%. King took control of a 14.57% stake and two weeks later called for EGM on 16 January. During the run up to the EGM, the incumbent Rangers board agreed £10m funding deal with
Sports Direct Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited, trading as Sports Direct, is a British retail company owned by Frasers Group. The company was founded in 1982 by Mike Ashley (businessman), Mike Ashley and was originally based in Maidenhead, England. It specialises ...
. The agreement saw Sports Direct hold a floating charge over Rangers Training Centre, Edmiston House, the Albion Car Park and the club's registered trademarks. Sports Direct was also transferred 26% of Rangers' share in Rangers Retail Limited (Rangers previously held 51% with Sports Direct holding 49%). The month of February a large volume of share purchase and Rangers supporters groups are heavily involved. With the writing apparently on the wall, Rangers director James Easdale resigned just over a week before the EGM and chairman Somers departed with fours days to go. The SFA's investigation into Ashley concluded at the beginning of March with Ashley being deemed to have broken rules on dual ownership due to his influence on the affairs of Rangers, he was fined £7,500, and Rangers were subsequently fined £5,500 over a month later for their lack of governance. Just two days before the EGM, the clubs Nominated adviser, WH Ireland, resigned resulting shares in the Plc being suspended. The outcome of the EGM was a decisive victory for King's consortium with Derek Llambias and finance director Barry Leach being voted off the board and King, Paul Murray and John Giligan moving in. Both King and Murray subsequently applied to be passed as a fit and proper person by the SFA with the later being cleared at the beginning of May. Further board appointments were made with John Bennett and Chris Graham added to the Plc board as non-executive directors and James Blair was appointed company secretary, on the same day Rangers suspended Llambias, Leach and Sandy Easdale from its football club board pending an internal investigation. Meanwhile the police probed the role of Mike Ashley and Sports Direct in the Rangers takeover and searched the companies headquarters. This was rumored to be the reason that Ashley demanded the repayment of his £5m loan to the club. Rangers set the date of the general meeting for June 2015 and added its own resolutions and proposals. On 19 May King was passed fit and proper by the SFA and became Chairman of the club on 22 May. On the same day King also loaned the club an additional £1.5m. On 23 June 2017, Mike Ashley sold his entire Rangers shareholding to Club 1872 and Julian Wolhardt.


Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises

On 30 May 2025, a US consortium led by health care business owner Andrew Cavenagh, and with backing from the invest arm of the San Francisco 49ers, completed a takeover of the Rangers by purchasing over 51% of all allocated share capital.


Current ownership

As of January 2025, RIFC have an issued share capital of 487,498,288 ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares").


Majority shareholders


Board of directors

''As of June 2025''


References


External links


AIM profile
(archived 29 March 2015) {{Rangers F.C. Rangers F.C.