NORWICH Union's Irish shareholders got 14.5 per cent, or £174 million, of the £1.2 billion of additional shares offered to members as part of the flotation, the company has confirmed.

The extra shares were offered at a discount of 25p sterling each. However, many policyholders failed to get the full amount subscribed for because of the phenomenal demand for the shares. This offer, which was available to Norwich Union's 2.9 million members worldwide, was four times oversubscribed.

No details as to how many Irish policyholders applied for additional shares are yet available from the company.

However, judging by the huge amounts of money reported to have been either borrowed or withdrawn from savings accounts at Irish banks and building societies, a substantial number of Norwich Union's 150,000 Irish customers applied for additional shares. The banks have indicated that they have lent more than £500 million to customers to buy shares.

The insurer has indicated that the average application was for around £6,000 worth of shares, although it is believed that many of the Irish policy-holders applied for the maximum share allocation of £112,500. However, because of the strong demand, those applying for the maximum allocation will only get around £10,000 worth of shares, together with a refund of the balance of their money.

The shares traded slightly higher in London yesterday, closing at 331p sterling, up 4 1/2p on the day. Meanwhile, stockbrokers in Dublin were reporting increased activity, with a growing number of small shareholders now selling their shares. In London, around 28 million Norwich Union shares were traded, with volumes expected to rise sharply later this week.

Most Norwich Union policy-holders should have received their share certificates by now, although some are still believed to be waiting for them.