Rangers FC Raises £22m On Initial AIM Floatation - Club's Value Has Been Totalled At £45.6m

Rangers FC Successfully Floats On The AIM

Fans of Scottish football club Rangers will be able to buy shares in their team from today, after it was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Rangers has raised approximately £22.2 million, prior to expenses, through an institutional investor placing of more than 24 million new ordinary shares at the placing price of 70p.

The total number of Ordinary Shares available is 65m, giving Rangers a market capitalisation of approximately £45.6m at the placing price.

The Huffington Post UK first reported on the listing in October when it was hoped Rangers would be able to raise £20m from its shares.

The money is being raised to provide for a secure financial future, update and develop the club's facilities, capitalise on the club's global brand and enable Rangers to enhance its playing squad when appropriate.

Charles Green, chief executive of Rangers, said in a statement: "The response from investors and fans alike has been tremendous and we are very proud to have such loyal supporters. Rangers is a huge club with enormous support, and, a 140-year track record of success in both the domestic and international arenas.

"With a settled squad, led by manager Ally McCoist, the club has made a strong start to the 2012/13 season and the Rangers brand and facilities provide tremendous opportunities for commercialisation and expansion. The listing on AIM is an important step to ensuring the future success of the club."

The cash boost will come at a bumpy time for the Scottish club; last season it collapsed under the weight of its debt and were forced to relaunch as a new club with new owners from the fourth tier of Scottish football.

Rangers as a club exists within a new company structure, but the old company is in adminstration and houses the debts, including tax owed to HMRC.

Administrators Duff & Phelps, which was tasked with calculating how much tax Rangers owed to HMRC, announced its final total as £94.4m on 3 October 2012.

Since the original team's formation in 1872, Rangers has become one of the world’s most successful clubs, having won 54 League titles, 33 Scottish Cups, 27 League Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972. Between 1989 and 1997 they won nine Scottish titles in a row.

The club also boasted one of the highest percentages of season ticket holders in the UK, with over 36,000 having been sold for the current season.

Playing at the 51,000-seater Ibrox Stadium, and benefitting from the world class 38-acre Murray Park training facility, Rangers has been a major force in Scottish football for decades.

Update: 09:48 GMT Wednesday 19 December In the original version of this article, Huff Post UK suggested the Ibrox was Scotland's only UEFA elite stadium - we've since been informed that Hampden Park also has elite status, and have updated the story accordingly.

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