• Board member Easdale lends £500,000 and Laxey £1m
• Loans to aid cash flow repayable by 1 September, 2014

Rangers have agreed a deal to borrow £1.5million from their football board chairman, Sandy Easdale, and investment group Laxey Partners, the club announced to the stock exchange on Monday.

The Ibrox club made a £14.4m loss in the 13 months up to June 2013 and failed in a bid to persuade Ally McCoist’s squad to accept a 15 % wage cut as they looked for a solution to their financial problems.

But now Easdale has stepped in to offer up a £500,000 sum on a no-fee and no-interest basis, while Laxey Partners will lend the club £1m, with both sums secured against the Edmiston House and Albion car park facilities near to Ibrox.

Both loans are repayable by 1 September 2014, while Laxey Partners, the club’s single-biggest shareholder with an 11.64 % stake, stand to make a £150,000 profit on their part of the deal.

The Isle of Man-based hedge fund may opt to take repayment in the form of fresh shares, but that would require shareholder backing at an AGM. Rangers say the cash will be used for working capital over the “next few months”.

The League One leaders raised £22m when they were floated on the stock market in December 2012, but their former financial director Brian Stockbridge raised concerns the club might be heading for administration for a second time last year when he claimed they would be down to their last £1m by April after burning through the rest of their eight-figure stockpile in little more than 15 months.

However, the money loaned to them will now tide them over until season-ticket renewal fees start arriving at the end of the current season.

A club statement said: “The board of Rangers is pleased to announce that it has entered into two secured short-term credit facilities for an aggregate of up to £1.5m. The credit facilities are being provided by Alexander Easdale, a shareholder in the company and director of The Rangers Football Club Limited, the wholly owned subsidiary of RIFC, and Laxey Partners Ltd (‘Laxey’), a substantial shareholder in the company. These credit facilities will be used by the company for general working capital purposes over the next few months.

“Alexander Easdale will make available to the company up to £500,000 on a fee and interest free basis .

“Laxey will make available to the company up to £1 million, with a premium payment equal to 15 percent of the nominal amount of the facility.

• Rangers
• Scottish League One
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