SHAREHOLDERS of the Cavan based building materials groups Kingspan have approved the tax free payment of £4.3 million to its four executive directors. The payout, which will be made over a four year period, is for their patent rights to certain Kingspan products.

At an extraordinary general meeting of the company in Dublin yesterday, proxy votes on behalf of shareholders who account for the majority of the group's shares were in favour of the deal.

None of Kingspan's shareholders, most of whom are institutions, voted against the payment and there was no questioning of directors from the shareholders who attended the meeting.

Speaking after the 10 minute meeting, Kingspan's chairman, Mr Eugene Murtagh, said he was happy that the institutions in particular had backed the deal.

Shareholders have also approved the group's £8.6 million acquisition of S&D, a Northern Ireland manufacturer of polyethylene bulk containers. This acquisition, announced last month, is to be part funded through a placing of 1.32 million shares at 225p, raising close to £3 million.

The four directors, Mr Eugene Murtagh, Mr Brendan Murtagh, Mr Eoin McCarthy and Mr Dermot Mulvihill, owned the patent rights for fabrication of insulated panels and the manufacture of rigid foam boards through a company trading as Thermal Products Developments. The acquisition of that company by Kingspan has now been approved by its shareholders realising the payments to the executives.

The completion of the acquisition follows the controversy surrounding the group's non disclosure of tax free royalty payments from Thermal to the four directors in its annual reports. Payments of £1 million to the four directors in 1994 was disclosed last year and followed shared royalties of £827,975 in 1993 and £589,513 in 1992.