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.”
