Minister McGrath welcomes successful disposal of further stake in AIB Group plc
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From: Department of Finance
- Published on: 28 June 2023
- Last updated on: 29 July 2023
The Minister for Finance Michael McGrath today welcomes a further successful disposal of part of the Irish State’s shareholding in AIB Group plc (“AIB”) by way of an accelerated bookbuild (“ABB”) transaction.
Commenting on the transaction, Minister McGrath stated:
“As announced earlier today, the State sold a tranche of AIB shares at a price of €3.64 per share which will generate €480.5 million for the Exchequer, bringing to c. €13 billion the total amount returned to the State to date from its investment in AIB. The price achieved on this transaction was c. 23% higher than what was achieved in our previous ABB transaction in AIB last November while also achieving a lower discount. The transaction was well received with significant demand from a large number of international institutional investors.
"This disposal of shares is consistent with the government’s belief that banking in the main is an activity that should be provided by the private sector, and that taxpayer funds which were used to rescue the banks should be recovered and used for the benefit of the people of Ireland.
"While the Relationship Framework which governs the relationship between the State and AIB remains in place, the reduction in the State’s shareholding in AIB to below 50% is a significant milestone on the path to normalising this relationship.
"The receipts from previous sales of bank holdings have been remitted to the Exchequer Central Fund. I will be examining how best to use the proceeds in this instance taking in to account the mandate of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.
"We have made good progress in reducing our shareholding in AIB through various mechanisms. The State retains a significant shareholding of c. 47% in AIB worth approximately €4.7 billion at the current price and we will continue to assess additional opportunities for share sales as they arise.”
Notes
The State has now entered into a lock-up period of approximately ninety days before another ABB can be considered. A reduced lock-up period of approximately forty-five days applies for the now paused AIB share trading plan which has been extended into a fourth phase and will become operational following the applicable lock-up period and will run until 23 January 2024, unless further extended by the Minister for Finance.
Disclaimer
This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute or form a part of an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any security of AIB in the United States or in any other jurisdiction where such offer or solicitation is unlawful. The securities of AIB described in this press release have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any applicable state or foreign securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. There has been no public offering of securities in the United States.