Vol. 500 No. 4
227 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance if he will have examinations made into the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6W and other depositors who have had deposits with TSB over a long period with a view to considering them for free shares or preferential treatment in the purchase of shares in any new TSB and ACC entity, along the lines of the stakehold given to building society depositers when their building societies became new entities. [3980/99]
As I stated in my reply to Deputy Stanton on Tuesday 9 February 1999, 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 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.
