Bank of Ireland has notified creditors that a High Court hearing for the purposes of finalising its corporate reorganisation will take place on June 23rd.
The reorganisation was approved at the bank's recent extraordinary general meeting where it was confirmed that a new listed holding company would be established. The holding company is required under a European Union regulation on the Single Resolution Mechanism which set up the Single Resolution Board (SRB). The purpose of the SRB is to put plans in place to avoid the potentially negative impact of a bank failure on the economy and on financial stability. With that in mind, the requirement for Bank of Ireland is to provide a framework for the bail-in of bondholders in the event of another financial crisis.
New ordinary shares
Subject to the approval of the High Court, Bank of Ireland Group (BOIG), the new holding company, would become the 100 per cent owner of the ordinary stock in the bank, and ordinary stockholders would receive new ordinary shares in BOIG in proportion to their current holding of ordinary stock in the bank.
Under the new regime, for every 30 shares that investors currently hold, they will receive one share in the new holding company.
According to an update from the bank, the reorganisation is not expected to have a material impact on how the group conducts its day to day business.