IRES shareholder calls for board overhaul and strategic review
A shareholder in Irish Residential Properties REIT has called for an overhaul of the company’s board, continuing its push for the company to put itself up for sale.
Vision Capital Corporation, which owns a 5% stake in IRES, wants five of the company’s directors to be replaced and for the business to explore “strategic alternatives to preserve and enhance overall shareholder value”.
The firm cites “dissatisfaction with the overall management”, as well as “continued poor share price performance, persistent discount relative to the market value of its assets, bloated cost structure, mismanagement of its balance sheet leading to the destruction of shareholder value, the inefficiency and limitations of the REIT structure in Ireland, notably poor trading liquidity and the inability to effectively raise meaningful equity capital in a value-accretive manner”.
A shareholder in Irish Residential Properties REIT has called for an overhaul of the company’s board, continuing its push for the company to put itself up for sale.
Vision Capital Corporation, which owns a 5% stake in IRES, wants five of the company’s directors to be replaced and for the business to explore “strategic alternatives to preserve and enhance overall shareholder value”.
The firm cites “dissatisfaction with the overall management”, as well as “continued poor share price performance, persistent discount relative to the market value of its assets, bloated cost structure, mismanagement of its balance sheet leading to the destruction of shareholder value, the inefficiency and limitations of the REIT structure in Ireland, notably poor trading liquidity and the inability to effectively raise meaningful equity capital in a value-accretive manner”.
Shareholders will be asked to vote at an EGM on a new strategy that would see the REIT taken private or have its assets sold.
Vision has called for the replacement of chair Declan Moylan, retiring chief executive Margaret Sweeney, chief financial officer Brian Fagan and directors Joan Garahy and Tom Kavanagh.
In their place, Vision is putting forward recommendations to hire Mark Barr, current chairman of the Commissioners of Irish Lights; Richard Nesbitt, a former chief executive of the Global Risk Institute; Colm Lauder, ex-head of real estate equity research at Goodbody and now head of Lingard Capital Advisers; Amy Freedman, an adviser to asset manager Ewing Morris & Co; and Sharon Stern, president of Eastmore Management and Metro Investments.
In its own statement, IRES said: “The board considers that Vision Capital’s actions are part of a campaign to undermine the good governance of the company and to override normal corporate governance standards. The board believes an EGM is not in the interests of the company’s shareholders and wider stakeholders.
“The board is in the process of reviewing the content and validity of the requisition with its advisers. A further announcement will be made in due course. In the meantime, shareholders are urged to take no action.”
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