IMB completes its third share buyback

Building society IMB has completed the third in a series of off-market share buybacks, paying A$16 million to buy 2.99 million shares at a deemed market value of $5.35 a share.

The 2.99 million shares represented 8.6 per cent of IMB shares on issue. Since the building society started its buyback program in 2012 it has acquired eight million shares, representing 20 per cent of the issued share capital at the commencement of the program.

The $16 million outlay represents IMB's full allocation to the latest buyback, making it the most successful of its three buybacks.

The second buyback, which was held at the end of 2013, yielded only 2.1 million shares, compared with a target of 14 million shares.

The purpose of the buybacks is to overcome shortcomings in IMB's hybrid structure; it is a mutual authorised deposit-taking institution and also a public company limited by guarantee and shares.

The shares are traded on an exempt market operated by IMB. It has around 4000 shareholder members among its 180,000 members.

According to a consultant's report prepared for the IMB board in 2012: "The ordinary shares do not sit comfortably with the mutual structure and present challenges for IMB's board in balancing the expectations of guarantee members and shareholder members."

The hybrid structure has also made it difficult for IMB to enter merger negotiations with other mutuals.

IMB was not in a position to buy back all of its shares at once, due to capital constraints, so the consultants recommended a series of buybacks.