The New Ireland Fund, Inc. Approves and Announces Terms of Rights Offering

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Sep 15, 2017) - The Board of Directors of The New Ireland Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IRL) (the "Fund"), a closed-end investment company managed by KBI Global Investors (North America) Ltd. ("KBIGI"), has approved a transferable rights offering (the "Offer") for the Fund. The Offer will be made only by means of a prospectus.

The Fund's investment objective is long-term capital appreciation through investment primarily in equity securities of Irish companies. Since 2011, Ireland has been among the strongest growing economies in Europe, and has outpaced the broader Eurozone.

The Offer is intended to increase the assets of the Fund available for investment, enabling the Fund to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities consistent with its investment objective and strategies without having to reduce existing Fund holdings. In addition, increasing the assets of the Fund is expected to result in certain economies of scale which may lower the Fund's expense ratio.

Under the terms of the Offer, the Fund will issue to record date shareholders one transferable right for each share of common stock held on the record date, October 16, 2017. Each record date shareholder and each other holder of rights is entitled to subscribe for one new share of common stock for every three rights held (1-for-3).

The subscription price will be determined on the expiration date, November 10, 2017, based on a formula equal to 92.5% of the average closing price of the Fund's shares of common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on the expiration date and the four preceding trading days.

Pursuant to an over-subscription privilege, record date shareholders who exercise all rights issued to them will be entitled to subscribe for additional Fund shares that were not subscribed for by other rightholders. In addition, in the event that the subscription price is equal to or above the Fund's per share net asset value on the expiration date, the Fund may issue additional shares (up to an amount equal to 25% of the shares to be issued assuming all rights are exercised) to satisfy over-subscription requests.

A definitive announcement on the commencement of the Offer and the record date will be made through a prospectus. The final terms of the Offer may be different from those discussed above. The information agent for the Offer is AST Fund Solutions, LLC. 

Shares of closed-end investment companies frequently trade at a discount from their net asset value. The market price of the Fund's shares is determined by a number of factors, several of which are beyond the control of the Fund. Therefore, the Fund cannot predict whether its shares will trade at, below, or above their net asset value.

Before investing in the Fund, investors should carefully consider the investment objective, risks and expenses of the Fund. This information, including other information concerning the Fund can be found on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. An investor should carefully read the registration statement before investing.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The information in the registration statement is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold nor may offers be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This announcement is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

The Fund is managed by KBIGI, a wholly owned subsidiary of KBI Global Investors Ltd. (based in Dublin, Ireland), which in turn is majority owned by Amundi Asset Management, Europe's largest asset manager by assets under management. Amundi Asset Management is 100% owned by Amundi SA.