Former Ires activist Vision to lose one board nominee as it cuts stake below 3%
Ires Reit
shareholder Vision Capital, which secured board seats for two nominees last year to resolve a standoff with the company, is on track to see one of those representatives step down after it reduced its holding in the business below 3 per cent.
Toronto-based Vision, led by Jeff Olin, started a year-long campaign in April 2023 for a sale or break-up of
Ireland's largest private apartments owner
. It reached a truce 14 months ago that resulted in two candidates it put forward joining the Dublin-listed company's board. Vision owned about 5 per cent of the stock at the time.
The two directors were one-time chief operating officer of Canada's CIBC Bank Richard Nesbitt and Amy Freedman, an investment banker turned corporate consultant. They were part of a unanimous board conclusion last August, following a strategic review, that a sale or break-up of the company would not be in investors' best interests.
Vision subsequently cut its stake in Ires, which is led by chief executive
Eddie Byrne
. Last September, its shareholding fell below 4 per cent and it reduced its holding further on Tuesday to 2.96 per cent, according to stock exchange filings.
READ MORE
The standstill agreement between Ires and Vision last year provides that Ms Freedman would step down from the board if the investment firm's stake were to fall below 3 per cent.
Shares in Ires, which has 3,734 residential units in Dublin, have rebounded almost 16 per cent so far this year to €1.05, driven by falling European Central Bank (ECB) interest rates which have boosted investor appetite for property stocks.
Still, the stock has pulled back by about 5 per cent from highs reached earlier this month as investors digest the Government's planned reform of
rent controls
.
A planned new nationwide control system – set to fully kick in from March 2026 – would see rent increases for tenancies capped in most cases by inflation or a maximum cap of 2 per cent. However, landlords would be able to reset rents at the going market rate when a tenant leaves.
Smaller landlords with three or fewer units will have to offer rolling six-year tenancies, while large ones will not be able to evict a tenant who has complied with their obligations except in very limited circumstances.
Rent control for new apartments constructed following enactment of the legislation would be linked to inflation without the 2 per cent cap. This, the Government said, should 'provide certainty, clarity and encourage investment'.
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