Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg TV this morning that Bank of Ireland (BOI) is among his best investments.
In 2011, Mr Ross ensured that BOI escaped the fate of full nationalisation when he, along with a group of Canadian and US investors, collectively took a 34.9 per cent stake in the bank. Mr Ross, known as the “king of bankruptcy”, acquired a 9.9 per cent shareholding in the bank.
This morning Mr Ross said that both BOI and the Irish economy are performing better than the Central Bank’s stress tests of 2011, and that Ireland’s new personal insolvency and bankruptcy laws still pose a “very powerful deterrant” to borrowers walking away from mortgages.
The stock has performed strongly in recent months, advancing by 125 per cent in the year to May 17th, 2013. However, Deustche Bank today announced that it was down-grading Bank of Ireland to sell from hold, on the basis that the “market is currently over-estimating the earnings potential in the next 2-3 years”.
Mr Ross also indicated in the interview that he would consider investing in Spanish bank loans.
