IRISH Continental Group (ICG) is set to come under fire from its biggest shareholder, the investment vehicle Moonduster, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

The Moonduster group, which owns nearly 25% of ICG, is said to be annoyed that it has not received the level of information and consultation from the ferry operator that it should as its largest investor. They are understood to be considering seeking seats on the company's board.

Moonduster is made up of Philip Lynch's One51 and the Cork-based Doyle shipping company. Sources there are understood to feel that that chief executive Eamonn Rothwell is running the company "like a family business" rather than a publicly-listed company.

Moonduster is also understood to be unhappy that when shares owned by developer Liam Carroll were placed on the market they weren't offered to them first, despite expressing an interest in acquiring some of them.

The tensions between the two sides spilled over to the company's annual general meeting last week.

The One51 and the Doyle Group blocked a motion at the meeting allowing the company to launch a rights issue. Rothwell claimed the move will stop it financing takeovers. But the One51 source said it was extremely hard to see how a debt-free company such as ICG would need to tap shareholders.

Over a fifth of ICG shareholders last week opposed the re-election of chairman John B McGuckian. The Moonduster source said it was through its support that he survived the vote.

Last year Moonduster and ICG management teamed up to take the company private. However, the lack of funding scuppered that deal. In the last three years Moonduster and Rothwell have each failed in bids to buy the firm.