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Minister McGrath welcomes disposal of further stake in AIB Group plc
Minister McGrath welcomes successful disposal of further stake in AIB Group plc
The Minister for Finance Michael McGrath 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 McGrath stated:
“As announced earlier today, the State sold a 5% stake in AIB at a price of €3.93 per share which will generate €514.83m upon settlement, bringing to c. €13.6bn the total amount returned to the State to date from its investment in AIB. This ABB transaction represents our fourth 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 8% higher than what was achieved in the previous transaction in June. This transaction was once again well received with significant demand from a large number of international institutional investors.
Significant progress has been made in reducing our shareholding in AIB from c. 71% at the beginning of 2022 to c. 40.8% today. While the State remains a significant shareholder in AIB, this is another important step in normalising the relationship between the State and AIB with the free float in the bank now increasing to 59.2%.
Our remaining shareholding in AIB is worth approximately €4.3bn, so following the applicable lock-up period, we will again assess additional opportunities for share sales as they arise as it continues to be this Government’s belief that banking in the main is an activity that should be provided by the private sector.”
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.
For Further information contact:
Brian Meenan, Press Officer, Department of Finance
pressoffice@finance.gov.ie
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.