€47.5m in FBD shares sold
Farmer Business Developments’ board of directors is like a Who’s Who? of the Irish agriculture sector, peppered with the names of high flyers in the Irish Farmers Association.
The directors of Farmer Business Developments include Michael Berkery, Joe Rea, Michael Morley and Patrick O’Keeffe.
The money will be used by the Farmer Business Developments to buy out KBC Insurance’s holding in Farmer Business Developments which is the holding company for the interest of some 5,000 farmers who funded the original establishment of the company.
KBC Insurance will retain its 22.8% holding in FBD Holdings.
The net effect of the move will be to improve the liquidity of FBD Holdings which will have almost 40% of its shares in free float as a result of the move.
A spokesman for the company said there are no plans to release any of the equity in Farmer Business Developments to shareholders at this time or in the foreseeable future.
FBD Holdings was notified yesterday that that Farmer Business Developments plc disposed of 2,570,000 ordinary shares in the capital of FBD yesterday.
Farmer Business Developments will retain a 31% stake in the company.
The stock hit at a record €18.50 yesterday but closed at €18.45, up 5 cents on the day.
