BARLO chief executive Mr Tony Mullins has strongly rejected claims by one of his shareholders that the company did not entertain a higher offer for the IRG Wire business in Limerick which was sold last month. The shareholder, Mr John Walsh of Shannon Coil Springs, claimed at yesterday's annual general meeting that he had tabled a higher offer for the IRG Wire business but that this offer had not been considered by Barlo.
This led to a clash with Barlo chairman Mr Frank Belton who said that "all bids were entertained and evaluated", a statement that led to an interruption from Mr Walsh who said: "No, they were not." Mr Belton then stated: "We must agree to differ."
After the meeting, Mr Walsh told journalists that he had submitted a bid for the plant, equipment and goodwill of IRG Wire through NCB to Barlo's corporate finance advisers, KPMG Corporate Finance.
NCB declined to comment publicly on Mr Walsh's statements but it is understood that NCB formally informed Barlo yesterday that, while its corporate finance arm had been initially approached by Mr Walsh, NCB made no offer - formal or informal - on behalf of Mr Walsh or Shannon Coil Springs for IRG Wire.
In a statement, KPMG Corporate Finance said that, in early 1996, Shannon Development made enquiries on behalf of Shannon Coil Springs about the disposal of IRG Wire. KPMG said that it informed Shannon Development that it would require evidence of financial capacity to complete a transaction "after which we had no further contact from Shannon Development or Shannon Coil Springs".
In May, Barlo announced that it had sold the IRG stock and plant in Limerick to Tinsley Wire. No price was disclosed but it is understood that Tinsley paid about £1.4 million for the stock and plant. Barlo's annual report indicated that when the IRG Wire premises and other assets were sold, it would realise £2.2 million in cash for Barlo, although it is thought the final figure may be higher.
After the meeting, Mr Mullins said: "We had professional advice on the sale; it's hardly likely we would have refused a higher offer. I'm surprised to see this emerge this morning; the disposal was a very satisfactory transaction for the group".
Mr Belton did confirm that Barlo was involved in a dispute with the previous owner of IRG Wire. "There is a dispute between us and the previous owner. It's ongoing. I don't know whether it will end up in court."
The sale of the IRG Wire business was not the only contentious - issue at yesterday's a.g.m. with another shareholder questioning the payment of tax free royalties to four Barlo directors from a patent company, Baggrave Limited, in which the four directors - Mr Tony Mullins, Mr John Bourke, Mr Aidan Barlow and Mr David Burke - hold redeemable shares.
The four directors heave received over £100,000 in tax free royalty payments from Baggrave since 1993.
The arrangement was strongly defended by the chairman, Mr Belton, who said that remuneration paid to the directors detailed in the annual report includes the Baggrave royalty payments.
Later, Mr Belton said that he was happy that the arrangements conform fully with Irish Association off Investment Managers guidelines.
Mr Belt on added that the directors have no ownership rights to the company, Baggrave, which holds the patents - a situation markedly different to the Kingspan situation last year when Kingspan paid £4.3 million to acquire a patents company in which some if its directors did hold ownership rights and through which they received substantially royalty payments.
