Canada Life policyholders who are eligible to vote on the forthcoming demutualisation of the company should be thinking about returning their voting forms. Completed forms must be received before 5 p.m. Toronto time on September 13th. Shareholders with queries can contact a freephone number at 1800 51 50 51.
If the proposal to demutualise the company is carried, some 54,000 people in the Republic will qualify for free shares to the value of between £1,746 and £2,583 on each eligible policy.
The share allocation is determined using a two-part formula. First a fixed allocation of 100 shares worth between £831 (#1,055) and £1,230 (#1,562) is granted to all policyholders. This represents about 25 per cent of the total shares. The second part of the formula is variable and based on the size of the annual premium. The rest is allocated based on the size of the policy multiplied by the length of time it has been held.
Of the 54,000 who qualify for shares, 30,000 took out policies in the last 18 months. But since with-profits policies have nil cash value for two years, these "carpetbaggers" are expected to receive the minimum 100-share allocation.
Less than a third of the 180,000 Canada Life policyholders in the State qualified for free shares due to restrictive Canadian legislation.
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