Irish Government to sell part of its Bank of Ireland stake

The Irish government has plans to sell part of its $807 million (€676 million) stake in Bank of Ireland Group Plc. over the next six months.

The sale will occur through a pre-arranged trading plan that will be managed by Citigroup Global Markets.

Citi group will be appointed to the role from the Department of Finance’s Panel of Financial Advisors following a mini-tender competition and have been mandated to effect “a measured and orderly sell down of shares”.

To ensure that the taxpayers’ interest is protected, shares will not be sold below a certain price per share which the Department of Finance will keep under review.

The number of shares sold will depend on market conditions, amongst other factors, a statement from the Department of Finance said.

This will be the first sale of Irish Government’s holdings in the country’s banks since 2017.

In order to ensure that the taxpayers’ interest is protected, shares will not be sold below a certain price per share which the Department of Finance will keep under review.

The Finance Minister of Ireland Paschal Donohoe said:

“Today’s announcement marks the start of a phased exit from the state’s remaining investment in Bank of Ireland,”

“When all cashflows are taken into account the taxpayer has already recorded a surplus on its investment in and support for the bank, even before the sales of these shares are accounted for,”

“A trading plan enables the state to sell down its shares in a low cost carefully controlled manner while avoiding the need to try to time our disposals with market conditions.”

The Department of Finance said that updates on the state’s Bank of Ireland shareholding will be disclosed to the market, each time the shareholding falls through a percentage point threshold as is required by Stock Exchange and investment regulations.