International Hotel Investments will be issuing a four per cent bonus issue, chairman Alfred Pisani announced during the company's 10th annual general meeting this morning.

The new shares will only be allotted to public investors as the three institutional shareholders (namely Corinthia Palace Hotel Company Ltd, LFICO and Istithmar) have waived their rights to the issue.

The shareholders will have the facility to sell back their bonus shares to IHI at the nominal value of €1 per share representing a 14.9 per cent premium to today’s closing price.

The reaction in the market was immediate as the equity rallied to a new 2010 high of €0.90 before easing to a close of €0.87 on increased volumes of over 76,000 shares.

During the meeting, the chairman also reiterated the company’s intention to obtain a secondary listing for IHI on the London Stock Exchange.

In view of this, shareholders approved a resolution authorising the directors to issue up to 200 million new shares at a price not lower than the nominal value of €1 per share.

In his address, Mr Pisani explained that works on the London property werenow in their final stages and the hotel was expected to open to the public early next year.

The sharp upturn in IHI shares (the third largest equity by market cap listed on the Malta Stock Exchange) lifted the MSE Share Index above the 3,500 level for the first time since May 27.

Meanwhile the share price of the two large banks both ended the day practically unchanged ahead of the EU-wide stress tests results expected to be published this evening.

Strong trading activity was also registered in Island Hotels Group Holdings plc amounting to 69,000 shares helping the equity regain the IPO level of €1.

Malta International Airport plc continued to trade at the €1.60 level with MaltaPost plc recovering by a further 3.8 per cent to €0.85.

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