RANGERS chairman Dave King has denied being in contempt of court after failing to made a judge-ordered £11 million bid for most of the club's shares.
Lord Bannatyne again urged Mr King to make the bid during a court-ordered procedural hearing on Friday over contempt proceedings related to a failure to comply with a court order to make the offer to Rangers shareholders in March.
The Rangers chief has already been told that he is in breach of takeover rules by failing to make the bid.
Mr King has now said he has agreed to make an offer for the shares, has no concerns about the prospect of a contempt case and insisted he is doing all he can to settle the matter.
"I'm certainly not in contempt of court because I'm doing everything I possibly can," he said.
In December Lord Bannatyne ruled in favour of the Takeover Panel that Mr King acted in concert with other shareholders when he bought a controlling stake in 2015 ousting a board of directors said to be allied to Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.
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That supported the Takeover Panel's view that a formal takeover should have been triggered after the Three Bears group led by Mr King secured more than 30 per cent of the voting rights in Rangers.
Mr King told STV: "The takeover panel made a ruling. That ruling if applied to a British resident would be easier to comply with but the fact is I live in South Africa, I've been there for forty years and I'm bound by their laws of South Africa.
"In order to transfer that amount of money out of the country you need exchange control approval and you have to apply for that.
"You can't just spirit the money out of the country.
"It takes time but I think we'll get there."
Under Takeover Code rules, a written offer to shareholders had to be made within 28 days of a bid announcement being made on March 29 - but so far it has not been forthcoming.
At a procedural hearing on Friday, after Mr King's legal representatives again claimed he was “penniless” – Lord Bannatyne called for action saying: “The court and indeed the panel has no interest in how Mr King goes about this – as long as it is compliant.
“It is a matter of complete disinterest to the panel how he makes the offer – it doesn’t matter what trust he uses or how he raises the funds. It is about compliance with the code.”
A hearing is expected into whether he has breached the court order to make the bid next month if it is not made.
Mr King previously argued that a judge went "too far" in ordering him to make a mandatory offer at a price of 20p a share.
Lord Bannatyne in a previous hearing said that Mr King's argument that he did not have the funds to make the offer was "irrelevant".
Lord Carloway at the Court of Session dismissed an appeal in March forcing the bid for 70 per cent of the shares to be made after agreeing that Mr King and others acted together to force their way into the Ibrox boardroom three years ago.
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Mr King's South African-based Laird Investments (Proprietary) Limited firm had said in the March 29 announcement that the bid would be funded "using the receipt of dividends" amounting to £13,074,842.90 which was "to be declared on April 4".
Mr King also raised concerns about SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLellan's re-election despite a potential conflict of interest - having previously called for his suspension.
On Monday Mr MacLellan was re-elected as chairman for the season ahead.
Mr King called for Mr MacLennan to be suspended pending a probe into his business links to Celtic's biggest shareholder Dermont Desmond.
The SPFL chairman is also chairman and a non-executive director of Independent News and Media PLC, partly owned by Mr Desmond.
International Investment and Underwriting, a company controlled by Mr Desmond is the second largest shareholder in INM, according to its latest accounts.
The SPFL has previously insisted there is no conflict of interest adding: "No investigation is warranted.
"I just think his position is awkward," said Mr King. "We can't control his election but certainly there is a clear conflict in terms of the work he is doing...
"It's a conflict position and it's going to be interesting to see how he handles it when sensitive issues come up throughout the season."
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