11 hours ago
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.
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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'.
