Music academy given €60,000 in shares
THE Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin has been given 25,000 shares worth more than €60,000 in UKlisted investment firm Crystal Amber Fund.
The donation was made as part of an annual donation round by the company, which is a former Aer Lingus investor.
The London-based company said yesterday that as part of its philanthropy exercise during 2018 it had given a total of 125,000 shares to five different charities. They are the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Royal British Legion, Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, Spread a Smile, and the Eleanor Foundation.
Crystal Amber chairman Christopher Waldron said the company was “delighted to support such worthy causes”.
The par value of the 125,000 shares was paid by Richard Bernstein, Crystal Amber’s founder and fund manager. He is a former Schroders analyst.
Crystal Amber is an AIMlisted activist fund which predominately invests in small and mid-cap UK equities.
Yesterday, the company’s shares were trading at £2.07, giving the firm a £200m market capitalisation and valuing the 25,000 shares handed to the Royal Irish Academy of Music at £51,750 (€60,353).
Crystal Amber owned a 2.8pc stake in Aer Lingus which it had acquired in the then listed airline in summer 2014.
It is believed it established that position in the carrier after buying some shares sold by businessman Denis O’Brien.
Immediately after acquiring its Aer Lingus stake, Crystal Amber weighed into a debate on pensions at the airline as it set up a new defined contribution scheme for workers.
The UK investment firm made an £8.7m profit, then €12m, from selling its shares in Aer Lingus in 2015 as the airline was acquired by IAG.
Crystal Amber made €12m profit on Aer Lingus