Obatan LLC is again making an unsolicited mini-tender offer for Canadian insurance company shares, this time targeting shareholders of Great-West Lifeco in Ireland.

The unsolicited offer to purchase up to 50,000 common shares of the company, at a discount of 34.64 per cent to the closing price of the shares on the last trading day before the offer was commenced, was made to residents of Ireland where the shares do not trade on a recognized stock exchange.

“Great-West Lifeco does not endorse Obatan’s unsolicited offer, has no association with Obatan or its offer and does not recommend acceptance of the offer,” the company wrote in a statement June 20. “Offers such as Obatan’s seek less than five per cent of a class of outstanding shares and so avoid many of the investor protections like disclosure and procedural protections applicable to most bids under Canadian law.”

They add that securities regulators have serious concerns about the possibility that investors might tender such offers without understanding the offer price relative to the actual market price of their securities. They also add that Obatan’s offer documents state that the tenders are irrevocable. Tendering shareholders do not have the option to tender only a portion of their shares.