Press release
State’s shareholding in AIB reduces to c. 25.5% following successful share disposal
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers TD, 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 Chambers stated:
“As announced earlier today, the State sold a 5% stake in AIB at a price of €4.90 per share which will generate c. €593m upon settlement, bringing to c. €16.1bn the total amount returned to the State to date from its investment in AIB. This ABB transaction represents our fifth such disposal in AIB and with each one we have achieved incremental improvements on the placing price, with this latest transaction achieving a price which was 24.7% higher than what was achieved in the previous transaction last November. This transaction was once again well received with significant demand from a large number of high quality international institutional investors.
We continue to make significant progress in reducing the State’s shareholding in AIB and this is evident in this shareholding reducing from c. 71% at the beginning of 2022 to c. 25.5% today meaning the free float in AIB has now increased to 74.4% which will be important for the attractiveness of the bank to institutional investors.
The State continues to have a shareholding in AIB worth approximately €3.1bn, so following the applicable lock-up period, we will again assess additional opportunities for share sales as they arise. We want to continue to normalise the relationship between the State and AIB as it remains this Government’s belief that banking in the main is an activity that should be provided by the private sector.”
ENDS
Note to editors
The State has now entered into a lock-up period of approximately ninety days before another ABB can be considered. A lock-up period of approximately thirty days applies for the now paused AIB share trading plan which the Minister also expects to extend in the coming days, this will become operational following the applicable lock-up period and will run until 23 January 2025, 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.