Norwich Union shareholders must cast their vote on the proposed merger of the company with Commercial General Union (CGU) by March 29th ahead of its March 31st shareholder meeting. If approved, CGU will acquire all the shares in Norwich Union which will be replaced by shares in CGU and the new company will be named CGNU.
Under the proposed deal, Norwich Union shareholders will receive 48 new CGU shares for every 100 Norwich Union shares they hold. To calculate the number of new CGNU shares you will receive, you should multiply your current holding of Norwich Union shares by 0.48, so for example, if you have 150 shares you will be entitled to 72 CGNU while investors with 1,000 share will receive 480 new shares. If this calculation does not result in a whole number of shares then, instead of receiving a fraction of a share, you will be paid a corresponding amount by cheque.
Following the merger, Norwich Union shareholders will hold approximately 41.5 per cent of the ordinary shares in CGNU. Norwich Union shareholders will also be entitled to a final dividend of 9.35p sterling per share in respect of the year ended 31st December 1999.
The new CGNU shares issued to Norwich Union shareholders will not carry the right to receive CGU's 1999 final dividend but will carry the right to dividends declared in respect of 2000. If the merger goes ahead CGNU will be the UK' biggest insurance group.
Norwich Union and CGU, which also owns Hibernian, have a combined customer base in Ireland of 600,000 and 100,000 shareholders, most of whom qualified for shares when Norwich Union was demutualised two years ago.
