Irish Nationwide Building Society already has enough facilities and cash to repay €4 billion of debt maturing at the end of this month, according to a spokesman for the company.
The society's move yesterday to list €4 billion of Government-guaranteed notes under its so-called global medium- term note program "boosts the liquidity" of the society, spokesman Brian Bell said today.
Irish Nationwide "may use some of the €4 billion of notes to repay maturing bonds," said Mr Bell. He said the bonds are eligible as collateral for short-term European Central Bank funding.
Meanwhile, Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland had their ratings cut to "neutral" from "outperform" at Dublin-based securities group Davy, which cited concerns over whether the government bank guarantee will be extended.
Shares in AIB were down 4.7 per cent to 77 cent on the Dublin market this afternoon, while Bank of Ireland slipped 6 per cent to 72 cent.
Bank of Ireland earlier offered to exchange C$400 million of subordinated bonds due 2015 for new 2018 securities in the Canadian currency at a discount to face value.
The existing floating-rate bonds, which are so-called lower Tier 2 securities, will be valued at 81.25 per cent of par in the exchange, the Dublin-based lender said in a statement. The new notes will also be lower Tier 2 and pay a floating rate of interest.
The exchange is designed to "enhance" Bank of Ireland's capital base, the statement said. The bank said it will base a decision to call bonds that aren't exchanged on whether it makes financial sense to do so, as well as on market conditions, regulatory approval and the verdict of the European Commission on its restructuring plan
Bloomberg