Presbyterian Mutual Society rescue package accepted
Smaller savers with the failed Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS) will get 100% of their money back, it has been announced.
Creditors and shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Monday to accept the executive's proposed rescue package. This means all shareholders with deposits of less than £20,000 will receive all of their money back. More than 99% of voters were in favour of the scheme which will see them receive a total of £232m in repayments. The majority of this money will be made available by a loan from the NI Executive. A third of creditors - or larger investors - agreed to voluntarily defer some of the funds due to them, which means that there is sufficient money to increase the payment to small savers from 97p to 100p in the pound. The creditors will receive 100p in the pound minus a compulsory deferral of 15p. Liquidation The overall return to shareholders is based on a sliding scale depending on the size of their total holding in the society. The minimum return that anyone will receive will be 77% of their total holdings. Had the scheme been rejected, the administrator would have been forced to put PMS into liquidation. This would have meant that whilst larger investors may have received up to 72p in the pound, shareholders would have been left with nothing. The PMS was placed in administration in November 2008 to enable the administrator to seek a better return than would be possible through liquidation. The scheme must be formally sanctioned by the courts before repayments can begin. However, the administrator hopes this will be in early July.