Paschal Donohoe announces sale of additional 5% stake in AIB

The Government has announced the sale of a further 5 per cent of its shareholding in AIB, worth about €300 million.

The State’s holding in the bank − built up after the lender was rescued in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis − is being drip-fed on to the market.

The shares are to be sold in a placing to institutional investors.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said the placing was expected to comprise 133.7 million of AIB’s ordinary shares, representing about 5 per cent of the issued ordinary capital of the bank.

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The sale will reduce the State’s holding in AIB from 68.5 per cent to 63.5 per cent. Details of the placing price and the exact number of shares placed on the market will be announced on Tuesday.

“The Minister has also undertaken not to sell further shares in the company for a period of 90 calendar days following the completion of the placing without prior written consent,” the Department of Finance said.

The State provided a bailout of €20.8 billion to AIB after the 2008 financial crash, taking a 99 per cent stake in the bank. In 2017, the Government sold a 29 per cent stake in the bank via an initial public offering, raising €3.4 billion in the process. It has since drip fed other shares on to the market to reduce its holding further.

Earlier this month, the State’s stake in Bank of Ireland fell below 3 per cent, a key threshold for Irish publicly quoted companies. Stakes above this level must be disclosed to the stock market.

The stake, held by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) on behalf of the Minister fell below that level to stand at 2.96 per cent. The Government has been steadily placing Bank of Ireland shares into the market since late June 2021, when it owned 13.9 per cent of the bank.