State’s stake in Bank of Ireland dips below below 10%

The State's stake in Bank of Ireland has dipped below 10 per cent, figures released to the Irish Stock Exchange show.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe announced in June that the Goverment would sell most of its 13.9 per cent stake in Bank of Ireland - held through Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) - this year.

A notice to the Irish Stock Exchange shows that by last Friday, the State had cut its holding in the bank to 9.95 per cent from 10.96 per cent at the start of the month.

ISIF has been drip feeding the stock into the market over the last four months, reducing the number of shares it holds in Bank of Ireland over time.

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The stock market notification shows that on Friday, October 22nd, the Government held 107.29 million shares in the lender, whose total issued capital amounts to 1.08 billion shares.

ISIF has been selling its stake in Bank of Ireland at around 1 per cent a month.

If the State agency continues selling the shares at this rate, its holding should fall below 8 per cent by the end of this year.

The State ended up with the shares in Bank of Ireland and other Irish lenders when it and the European Central Bank had to bail out the Republic's financial system during a crisis in 2010.