THE shares in Lyons Irish Holdings will continue to be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange following the closing of the offer, from Unilever Ireland, for the minority shareholding. A spokesperson for Unilever said it would not be seeking a delisting of the Lyons shares.

The offer closed following acceptances from shareholders representing 5.6 per cent of the equity.

While the low level of acceptances represents a failure by Unilever, the independent directors of Lyons who had urged shareholders to reject the offer, expressed surprise at the outcome. "We were surprised that they got as much as they did," Lyons chairman, Mr Pierce Butler, told The Irish Times.

"The real reason was that we had a US investor who decided to liquidate his investment because of the strength of the pound to the dollar."

He would not disclose the identity of the investor but the holding is understood to have been held by a trust company, under a nominee name. Around 600,000 Lyons - shares, representing 2 per cent of the company, were involved.

Prior to the offer, Unilever had a 75 per cent shareholding in Lyons. Its holding has now gone up to 80.6 per cent and it will have to live with the minorities whose shares will continue to be quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange.

Unilever said it was "pleased to have gained an additional 5.6 per cent" and looked forward to "working with the management of Lyons in developing the full potential of the company for the benefit of all shareholders".

Mr Butler said the independent directors will continue to look after the interests of the minority shareholders, adding that Lyons was "now going to get down to concentrating on working with Unilever to develop the business and enhance stakeholders' value".