Glanbia's largest shareholder, Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited, has proposed a disposal of a portion of its stake at a Co-op member vote scheduled for the middle of May.
If approved, this would reduce the Co-op's shareholding from 41.2% to 36.5% and will result in about €238m of value being made available to all members.
Glanbia Co-Operative Society said the proposals are aimed at releasing a portion of the value of the society and making it available to members at a time of major expansion and investment in the Irish dairy industry.
The proposal will involve the sale of four million shares in the plc to create a member support fund.
Another 10 million shares of existing shares will be distributed to Co-op members.
It will also start a share buy back plan to buy up to 3 million existing shares from current members.
The Co-Op said the proposals are also designed to strengthen the current relationship between the society's shareholding and milk supply.
Liam Herlihy, Chairman of Glanbia Co-operative Society, said that the the board is making these proposals in the context of a period of unprecedented change in the Irish dairy sector.
"The Society is in a very strong position, owning 60% of Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, the country’s leading and most progressive dairy processor, as well as a further €2 billion of assets through its shareholding in Glanbia plc," Mr Herlihy said.
He said that many of the society's members are in a period of expansion and the board believes this is an appropriate time to make some of the value that has been built up in the Society available to those members to provide resources to support growth.
