Irish Life EGM proposals sought

DISSIDENT shareholders in Irish Life & Permanent have succeeded in getting four extra resolutions tabled at the bancassurer’s EGM next week, including a proposal to appointment new advisers to review options for raising capital.

The company said yesterday that shareholders representing more than 3% of the voting rights of the company had called for the extra resolutions which would also seek an extension of Irish Life’s capital raising deadline of July 31.

Fresh stress tests, agreed as part of Ireland’s EU-IMF bailout, showed Irish Life & Permanent needed to raise €4 billion ($5.7bn) in extra capital, sending its share price nosediving from €1 at the end of December to around 4 cents currently.

The company plans to sell its cash-rich life insurance arm, with an embedded value of around €1.6bn, but its banking arm faces effective nationalisation as the government is the only source of additional capital.

The company is holding an EGM on July 20 to approve its capital raising plans, which will see it delist from the main Irish and UK stock exchanges.

Rebel shareholders, led by Malta-based investment firm Scotchstone Capital, have said they accept that the sale of Irish Life is likely.

One of the resolutions requested by the rebel investors is that Piotr Skoczylas of Scotchstone Capital be appointed as a director of the company.