Desmond takes investment activities private

International Investment and Underwriting (IIU), the investment vehicle owned by Mr Dermot Desmond, has been changed to an unlimited company.

A consequence of the change is that the company is no longer obliged to file accounts. The change will allow the company to operate with more privacy in relation to its performance and ownership. There was no comment available from the company yesterday.

The last filed accounts for IIU were for the year to end December 2002, and reported a loss of €3.66 million. Accounts for 2003 need not be filed now that the company has become unlimited.

Filings in the Companies Registration Office (CRO) show a number of changes to the status and shareholder structure of IIU during 2004.

The latest filed annual return for IIU, for the year to end September 2003, stated that all but one of the two million issued shares were held by Line Nominees Ltd, Gibraltar. The remaining share was held directly by Mr Desmond.

The 2002 accounts stated that Mr Desmond was the beneficial owner of all the issued shares.

In May 2004, the CRO was notified that the company was now a single member company - that it had only one shareholder. The shareholder was stated as Mr Desmond.

In September the CRO was notified that Mr Desmond had passed a number of special motions for IIU, including one authorising the issuing of 100 "A" ordinary shares and the assignment of certain rights to these shares. It was also notified that IIU was no longer a single member company. The 100 "A" ordinary shares were allotted to an Isle of Man company, Juve Unlimited.

Also in September the company was re-registered as an unlimited company. The declaration of members' assent filed in the CRO gave the members as being two Isle of Man companies, Juve Unlimited and Milanera Limited. Both have an address at Finch Road, Douglas, at the offices of the Trident Trust Company.

Documents filed with the CRO show that both Isle of Man companies authorised Mr Chris McHugh, Mr Michael Walsh, and Mr Gordon Mundy to sign the assent forms in relation to the status of IIU. Mr Mundy is understood to be an employee of Trident Trust while the other two men are directors of IIU.