Ires Reit executives survive effort to push them out at AGM

Ires Reit chief executive Margaret Sweeney

Jon Ihle

The board of Ires Reit has seen off a revolt by dissident shareholders at its annual general meeting in Dublin today.

Embattled CEO Margaret Sweeney and CFO Brian Fagan withstood an attempt by disgruntled investors to oust them over the poor performance of the company’s shares.

A vote at the AGM returned both senior executives to the board along with the rest of the directors, according to chair Declan Moylan.

While the results will be published later today, Mr Moylan said directors had been supported by shareholders in proportion to votes in previous years

Last year Ms Sweeney and Mr Fagan were narrowly re-elected with about two-thirds support each – far below other directors, whose votes were nearly unanimous

Such low vote totals indicate a persistently high level of dissatisfaction among shareholders, however.

It is understood several resolutions put forward by the board were also voted down.

The AGM followed weeks of public sparring between Ires and a group of rebel shareholders led by Canadian fund Vision Capital, which is seeking a sale of the publicly listed real estate company.

Vision Capital president Jeff Olin engaged in a long, tense exchange with Mr Moylan during the course of the AGM.

Mr Olin insisted repeatedly that shareholder value in Ires was being destroyed and that the company had badly managed its debt financing as interest rates went up in the last year.

He called again for Ires to start a process to seek a buyer to unlock shareholder value.

Mr Moylan repeatedly defended the integrity and quality of the board and management and said now was not the time to sell the company, due to poor market conditions.

Ires shares have been trading around the €1 initial public offering price, meaning the market value of the business is far below what its property assets are worth on the open market.

Ires was in exclusive talks with Irish Life Investment Managers to sell the Marker Residences, a luxury apartment complex in Dublin’s Silicon Docks, but those discussions have not produced a bid.

Mr Olin objected to selling a “premium” asset such as the Marker, but Mr Moylan said Ires’s business was in the residential midmarket, suggesting the Marker would be considered a non-core asset.