Shareholders in Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), quoted in Dublin and London, are to receive a cash bonus of £67 million sterling after voting in favour of a major restructuring of the company.

In response to the vote, the company's shares rose by 17.5p in London to close at 551p, as dealers greeted the announcement with approval.

When trade in the shares resumes on February 9th, the company will be listed as the Viridian Group.

For every 10 NIE shares, shareholders are to receive nine ordinary shares in Viridian Group and 10 Viridian loan notes with a nominal value of 47.4p each.

The loan notes will have a six-month life because of tax considerations. However, they will be quoted so they can be redeemed almost instantly.

The restructuring is designed to reduce the cost of capital nearer to what the regulator of electricity prices says it should be. The cost of capital is effectively reduced by replacing equity with loans.

A company spokesman said yesterday all shareholders should be happy with the restructuring. "The distribution is being made in equal proportion to their existing shareholdings and at the end of the scheme they will have exactly the proportionate stake in Viridian," he said.

The restructuring means the company now has more flexibility over share buy-backs in future.

While the company will trade as Viridian, it will continue to supply electricity using the NIE name.

"The new structure will provide a strong foundation upon which to build fresh growth by seeking out new business and investment opportunities in order to generate unregulated income," said the chief executive, Dr Patrick Haren.

The restructuring comes at a time when the company faces severe pressures and when pre-tax profits have fallen from £52 million to £37.4 million in the six months to September 30th, 1997.