Vol. 500 No. 1
202 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Finance his views on the reported proposed merger of TSB and ACC and the proposed floatation of the new entity; if existing account holders will receive some benefit as a result of this; if so, the way in which this will occur; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3689/99]
I have received a joint Memorandum of Understanding from the trustees of the TSB and the board of ACC which I am actively considering. This memorandum proposes the merger of the TSB and ACC and the flotation of the merged entity on the stock exchange. The question of free shares for customers only arises in the case of organisations such as mutual building societies which are owned by their customers. This does not apply in the case of TSB or any of the State companies such as ACC or ICC. The proceeds from the sale of the TSB and the public assets will accrue to the Exchequer. The question of reserving a specific number of shares at the offer price for long standing customers of ACC/TSB when floated on the stock exchange is something I will consider at the appropriate time.
