Dave King (businessman)

David Cunningham King (born 3 August 1955)[1] is a Scottish-born, South African based former chairman of Rangers Football Club.

For other uses, see David King (disambiguation).

Dave King
Born (1955-08-03) 3 August 1955
Ayr, Scotland
NationalityBritish
OccupationOutsourcing

Early life

King, one of seven children, was born and brought up in the Castlemilk area of Glasgow. He attended Allan Glen's School in the city after passing a bursary examination. He worked at Weir's Pumps in the nearby Cathcart area, before he was transferred to its South African operation in 1976.

Business career

Following the transfer to South Africa by his employer, King took on several business roles and accumulated substantial personal wealth. The extent of King's wealth remains undisclosed but was sufficient for him to be included in a South African 'Rich List' in 2012.[2] He was an adviser for the South African Post Office and the South African Reserve Bank in his early stages before establishing a management company, Specialised Outsourcing, that won a contract to manage the treasury operations of Umgeni Water.[3][4]

On 14 June 2002 BBC News referred to South African reports that King faced eleven counts of fraud when he appeared at the Regional Court in Randburg, near Johannesburg. He was alleged to owe the tax authorities over 900 million rand: approximately £60m.[5][6] King's tax problems began after he bought an Irma Stern painting at an auction for R1.7 million in 2000. This attracted the attention of Charles Chipps, special investigator at the South African Revenue Service, SARS, who was surprised to discover that King had declared a taxable income of only R60,000.[7][8]

After a decade of legal process, including an agreed, but vetoed, settlement,[9] King eventually reached an agreement with the South African High Court whereby he pleaded guilty to 41 criminal counts of contravening the South Africa Income Tax Act and agreed to pay a fine of 80,000 rand per criminal conviction or 3.28 million rand in total. King also agreed that he would pay the Criminal Assets Recovery Account of the South African Authorities 8.75 million rand in compensation. King was originally indicted on 322 counts including fraud, tax evasion and evasion of exchange control regulations, as well as money-laundering and racketeering, but these charges were dropped.[10][11][12][13] King was represented by Barry Roux, the lawyer who would later become well known for his defence of Oscar Pistorius.[14]

Shareholding in Rangers Football Club

King joined the board of directors of Rangers Football Club as a non-executive director on 30 March 2000.[15] He then invested £20 million of his personal wealth into Murray Sports Ltd. The football club entered administration on 14 February 2012. On 22 February 2012 King had a meeting with the club's administrators along with manager Ally McCoist.[16]

On 7 June 2012 King called for the rejection of the proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to bring Rangers out of administration.[17] The proposal was subsequently turned down by the club's largest creditor, HM Revenue and Customs, and Rangers FC entered Liquidation.[18]

Despite the loss of his £20 million investment because of the club's financial collapse, King had indicated a willingness to invest in Rangers again. On 2 January 2015, King acquired almost 15% of shares in Rangers International Football Club, the owner of Rangers FC, from two separate shareholders. This came just two days after a trio of Scottish businessmen, known as the Three Bears, bought a large percentage of shares from the Laxey Partners. Both King and the Three Bears announced that they would work together to try and steer the club out of financial trouble. King's purchase made him the largest sole shareholder of the club.[19]

On 6 March 2015, the Company held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) at 11am. Shareholders approved the appointment of King as non-executive chairman, Paul Murray as interim chairman and non-executive director and John Gilligan as a non-executive director of Rangers International Football Club plc, with immediate effect.[20] King indicated prior to the meeting that he would not take up the appointment immediately and was later appointed chairman on 22 May 2015.[21] Shareholders voted Chief executive officer Derek Llambias and Finance director Barry Leach off the board.[22]

Personal life

King is married to Ladina Jean Wylde King with whom he has four children.

King was close friends with South African golfer Gary Player and caddied for him at the 2000 US Masters in Augusta. The two, however, had a dispute about a $1 million transaction in 1999 that was not settled until 2013.[23]

References
  2. "Richest IT people in South Africa". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  3. "Umgeni Water Board: briefing - Parliamentary Monitoring Group - Parliament of South Africa monitored". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  5. "Tycoon faces tax charges". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  6. "King no longer sequestrated over tax". Fin24. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  7. "How painting sparked tax team probe; THE PROBE". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  8. "Dave King and I - The Money Whisperer - Moneyweb". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  9. "Cocky NPA left red-faced by Dave King : Plettenberg Bay News". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  10. Business Day Live South Africa (29 August 2013)
  11. "When King took on the Taxman - Mattr". Mattr. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  12. "Today's Trustee - Dec 2013 / Feb 2014 Issue". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  13. "Rangers announce date for general meeting". Daily Record. Glasgow: Trinity Mirror. 6 February 2015.
  14. Laing, Aislinn (20 February 2013). "Oscar Pistorius: profile of defence lawyer Barry Roux". Pretoria: Telegraph Media Group Ltd. The Telegraph UK. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  15. "Rangers to raise record investment". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  16. "Dave King and Ally McCoist meet Rangers' administrators". BBC Sport. BBC. 22 February 2012.
  17. "Director Dave King calls for Rangers CVA rejection". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 June 2012.
  18. "Rangers to re-form after creditors' deal is rejected". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 June 2012.
  19. Wilson, Richard (2 January 2015). "Dave King company buys 15% of Glasgow club". BBC Sport. BBC.
  20. McLaughlin, Chris (6 March 2015). "Dave King's consortium wins control of Rangers board room". BBC Sport. BBC.
  21. "King Appointed Chairman". Rangers.co.uk. Rangers Football Club. 22 May 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  23. "Gary Player settles $1 million dispute - CBSSports.com". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
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