IPL Plastics to set up grey market for its shares in Dublin

IPL Plastics will set up a new grey market for its shares in Dublin after a likely €125 million stock exchange launch in coming months.

The plastic container maker plans to begin offering its shares for sale on the Canadian Stock Market some time in the middle of this year.

IPL said on Tuesday that it will establish a new Canadian group holding company – called IPL Plastics Incorporated (IPLP) – to facilitate the potential launch of its shares in Toronto.

Shareholders will receive one new IPLP class B share for every five that they currently hold.

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Those shares will trade on a new grey market for six months after the flotation, at which point they will convert to common stock that can be traded in Canada.

The grey market will allow existing shareholders to avoid a lock-in barring them from selling stock in Canada for six-months after flotation.

IPL will issue new shares when it floats on the market in an exercise it hopes will raise about €125 million. The move will dilute existing shareholders’ stake in the company to less than 50 per cent, recent reports said.

The group also intends to offer to buy back shares worth up to $50 million Canadian dollars (€32.2 million) from existing shareholders. This will allow shareholders to sell all or part of the class B stock they receive at IPL’s stock market launch price.

Investors will be able to offer their shares for sale back to the company for a limited period following an extraordinary general meeting to approve these plans.

In a move also designed to gear up for a flotation, IPL has refinanced existing debt with a new €400 million facility provided by a group of banks led by Bank of Ireland and National Bank Financial.

The company said that it wanted to replace two facilities provided by separate Irish and Canadian banking syndicates with a more appropriate company-wide structure.

IPL cannot say when it is likely to launch on the stock exchange, but expects to move promptly with the plan once shareholders approve its proposals at an extraordinary general meeting.

The plastics manufacturer stems from One51, an investment company spun out of IAWS, now known as Aryzta.