The Government has sold a 5 per cent stake in AIB Group to lower its holding in one of its two partly state-owned lenders to 25 per cent and raising €593 million.
The accelerated placement at €4.90 per share compared with a price of €3.93 per share the last time the Government sold a stake of similar size in November.
The newly appointed Minister for Finance Jack Chambers said: "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 circa 71 per cent at the beginning of 2022 to circa 25.5 per cent today".
He said the State continues to have a shareholding in AIB worth approximately €3.1 billion and that "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," he said. - Reuters
