Suns Owner Robert Sarver has made a $28M offer to “buy a controlling stake” in Scottish soccer club Rangers FC, according to Richard Wilson of the BBC. Sarver “made the offer just after Christmas” in an e-mail to Rangers Int’l Football Club Chair David Somers. Sarver asked the club’s board to "call a general meeting to ask shareholders to approve the issuing of new shares." Subsequent share purchases by two other interested parties “make his bid unlikely to succeed as it stands.” Sarver was also prepared to spend an additional $23.4M to “buy out any remaining shareholders should his offer have been accepted.” He was “initially committed to buying 100% of Rangers,” but with club investors Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor now owning almost 20%, and former club Dir Dave King almost 15%, that is “unlikely” (BBC.com, 1/4). A source said that if Sarver is successful in securing majority control, he "is 'looking to invest a significant amount of capital' into Rangers in an attempt to help restore the club to their top-division status in Scotland and resuscitate their storied Old Firm rivalry with Celtic, which ranks as one of the most passionate derbies in the sport” (ESPNFC.com, 1/4).
