Rangers set out £16m share issue plan as they target summer squad spend

Rangers have unveiled a new share issue designed to raise up to £16m, with chairman Andrew Cavenagh telling supporters the funds will be used to boost resources for the men’s first team ahead of the summer window.The club said the capital raise will support player acquisitions and other club needs, and is being progressed via written shareholder resolutions circulated on March 25.Cavenagh told supporters: “In football, the level of resources committed to the squad is directly linked to the quality on the pitch. If we want to continue to improve on the pitch, we need to increase the total amount of resources of the club while also shifting as many of those resources to the men’s first team as possible.”Rangers also confirmed adult season ticket prices will rise by 6.5%, with juvenile tickets held at the same price.Cavenagh said: “We are raising season ticket prices by 6.5 per cent (except juvenile tickets, which will be kept at the same price). We do not take ticket prices and increases for granted.”He added: “The costs to run the club – player wages, agents’ fees, security, food and beverage – are all rising faster than the overall rate of inflation. We either need the club’s revenues to keep pace, or we need to decrease the money spent on the squad.”Cavenagh also said the club were not “asking supporters to do all the heavy lifting”, setting out a parallel capital injection via the share issue.“We are raising £16m of additional capital through a new share issue, effective immediately,” he said. “The capital will be used to support player acquisitions and other club needs.”Cavenagh said the fundraising would take total capital invested in the club to £36m since his US-led consortium took control last summer, with the group prepared to cover any shortfall if existing shareholders do not take up their allocation.Rangers’ shareholder documentation says the board is seeking authority to allot up to 80 million new ordinary shares over a five-year period, and to waive statutory and constitutional pre-emption rights in connection with the share issue.The club said existing shareholders will have the opportunity to participate on a pro rata basis, with a minimum participation threshold of 1,000 shares.Cavenagh also indicated Rangers will not replace sporting director Kevin Thelwell, who left the club in November alongside chief executive Patrick Stewart.“We do not plan to hire a sporting director. The executive team is committed to being smaller, nimbler, and more entrepreneurial,” he said.Shareholders have 28 days from the circulation date to return signed consent forms, with the resolutions requiring more than 50% approval for the share allotment authority and 75% approval to disapply pre-emption rights.