State’s shareholding in AIB reduces to zero following further successful share disposal

“As announced earlier today, the State sold a 2.06% stake in AIB at a price of €6.94 per share which will generate c. €305.3m upon settlement, bringing to c. €19.8bn the total amount returned to the State to date from its investment in AIB. With each ABB transaction successfully completed by the State we have achieved incremental improvements on the placing price while also managing to tighten the discount. Once again, this transaction was well received with significant demand from a large number of high quality international institutional investors.

This ABB transaction represents our seventh such disposal in AIB and will reduce the State’s directed shareholding in the bank to zero. This is an important milestone in delivering on the government’s policy of returning the banking sector to private ownership.

When I announced the launch of the share trading plan in December 2021, I commented that banking is an activity that involves taking credit risk and therefore should be provided by the private sector. It follows that taxpayer funds which were used to rescue the Irish banks should be recovered and used for more productive purposes. The gradual disposal of the State’s investment in AIB into a rising market has been successful in delivering on this objective for our citizens.

On an overall basis, based off current market prices, the State is c. €0.6 billion above break-even on its €29.4 billion investment in AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB.

The State also holds warrants in AIB which were issued shortly after the IPO of the bank in 2017. Department of Finance officials are considering options in this regard, including AIB purchasing these warrants back from the State.”