Allied Irish Banks Plc (AIBBY.PK) Monday agreed to sell its unit AIB Asset Management Holdings (Ireland) Limited to South African investment firm Prescient Holdings Limited. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The positive impact on AIB's capital position as a result of the sale is not material, the state-held bank noted. AIB expects to close the sale during the first quarter 2012, subject to regulatory approvals.
AIB was asked to dispose its asset management unit last year as per a restructuring agreement with the European Commission. AIB Asset Management Holdings has about 100 employees and managed assets of about 8.4 billion euros as of October 2011.
Previously, a subsidiary of Irish Life & Permanent or IL&P was expected to be the preferred bidder for AIB's investment arm, but that prospect dimmed after the Central Bank Of Ireland revealed that IL&P itself needed to raise 4 billion euros in additional capital, following stress tests that assessed its loss absorbing capacity. AIB too was asked to raise equity capital of 9.1 billion euros, apart from 4.2 billion euros deferred from February.
AIB was nationalized last year, when the bank, along with its rival Bank of Ireland accepted EU-IMF bailout worth 3.5 billion euro in 2009 from the Irish government as a part of a recapitalization scheme. In December 2010, the Irish government took a majority stake in AIB.
Last August, AIB delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, following the state takeover and with a view to curb costs.
AIBYY.PK is trading at $1.00, up $0.04 or 4.17%.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com