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Financier Dermot Desmond has sold his entire shareholding in One51 believed to be in the region of 25%, the company has announced this morning. In a note to investors, One51 said the entire shareholding of IIU Limited, which is Mr Desmond’s private equity firm, and related parties had been acquired by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the institutional investor group that One51 partnered with in 2015 to acquire a 67% majority shareholding in the Canadian plastics company IPL for €201m.
No details of the deal or what price the shares were transferred at between IIU and CDPQ were released. Desmond bought up the majority of his stake last year with shares trading at the €1.85 mark. Over the last 12 months shares have traded as low as €1.35.
Shares in One51, which are traded on the grey market, have sold for €1.80 in recent days. Pat Gilroy, the former Dublin football manager and IIU’s nominee to the board of One51, has resigned as a non-executive director with immediate effect.
Stock market IPO back on the cards?
With Desmond’s involvement as a shareholder in One51 now at an end, it could pave the way for the plastics manufacturing company to finally float on the stock exchange.
Over a year ago, One51 announced its intention to float on the stock market to increase the liquidity of shares in the company. As part of this plan, up to 20% of the new shares issued would be transferred to the Canadian investors in the company.
However, the plan was blocked by Dermot Desmond who was opposed to diluting his 25% stake in the company for the benefit of the Canadians. If the deal had gone ahead, Desmond’s stake would likely have fallen below 15%.
But with Desmond’s private equity firm out of the picture, a stock market flotation could be back on the cards. Such a move will be closely watched by many of the Irish co-ops, including Kerry, Glanbia, Lakelands and Dairygold, which hold a collective stake in the business of around 26%.
The co-ops received the majority of their shareholdings for free after it was spun out of the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society (IAWS). Since then, a number of co-ops invested a further combined €77m.
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