State to reduce its stake in AIB below key 30% threshold

The State is to sell another 5% of its stake in AIB.

In a statement, the Minister for Finance said the disposal of the shares will be done using a placing to institutional investors.

The price will be set through a process known as an accelerated book build, where a company offers shares for purchase during a short window.

If successful, the sale will lead to €617m being realised for the exchequer.

The State’s shareholding in the bank will also fall from around 30.5% now to approximately 25.5%.

This means it is falling for the first time below the key 30% psychological threshold considered by the markets to be a controlling interest.

This could place pressure on the new minister, Jack Chambers, to lift the cap on pay of bankers at AIB.

The minister also said today that he intends to extend the share trading plan, under which shares have been sold over recent years, by another six months, bringing it up to January 23rd of next year.

So far €1.45bn has been raised from the sale of the State’s AIB shares since it started in January of 2022.

Shares in the bank have risen by around a third since the State last disposed of 5% of its stake in the bank last November.