Administrators run up £5.5m bill at Rangers
Administrators have charged £5.5m so far for work at Rangers, but that figure could increase to £6.2m if the club enters liquidation or CVA
DUFF & PHELPS administrators have racked up about £5.5m in fees so far for their work at collapsed Scottish football club Rangers.
Paul Clark and David Whitehouse were appointed joint administrators to the club on 14 February.
According to details contained in proposals to place Rangers into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), the administrative team has run up about £5.5m in fees for their work in compiling an exit from administration.
Whether the club enters into a CVA, or goes into liquidation, the administrators’ fees are likely to increase to £6.2m. A CVA or liquidation can run for several years, but no details have been provided within the proposals as to the estimated timescale for Rangers’ proposed CVA.
The £5.5m fee for the administrators’ work so far includes time costs and legal fees for several legal actions, including forcing ex-owner Craig Whyte’s lawyers, Collyer Bristow, to hand over £3.9m and a separate legal action against them, which is due to finish later this year.
The administrators also managed to convince bidder Sevco to transfer £200,000 for running costs in exchange for exclusivity rights to the club.
Sevco, a consortium of investors fronted by Charles Green, are willing to advance Rangers £8.3m following a CVA approval.
The club hopes to exit administration through a CVA which needs 75% or more of creditors, by value of debt, to approve the deal.
Unlike in the English Premier League, if a Scottish Premier League club enters a CVA its assets (such as players) are not transferred to a new company and the old company liquidated.
It is hoped by the administrators that the Rangers insolvency will follow the CVA exit strategy.
However, after administrator fees and other costs such as player transfer fees and trading costs, it is likely unsecured creditors will receive between 3p to 9p for every pound owed.
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In the event of liquidation unsecured creditors will receive no payment.
HM Revenue & Customs is the second largest unsecured creditor with debts of £21.5m and Ticketus is the largest with £26.7m.
This article has been amended from an earlier version
