The deadline for bids to buy building society EBS has been extended to January 17. Irish Life & Permanent and an investment consortium led by Dublin group Cardinal are both making offers for EBS.
Earlier today, it emerged that the Government had injected €525m into the building society which is in State control. The taxpayer has already invested €350m into the lender.
The €525m is being put into EBS through special investment shares. These shares can be translated into ordinary shares if the EBS is converted into a company. In March, Mr Lenihan said EBS would need a total of €875m to meet new tougher capitalisation targets set by the Financial Regulator.
The additional capital will bring the building society's core Tier 1 ratio - a measure of a financial institution's financial health - to 8% by the end of the year.
The funding gives the Minister for Finance control over EBS, including the composition of the board and the passing of members' resolutions. The building society said it is intended to enter into a 'relationship framework agreement' with the Minister to govern the relationship between EBS and the State.
'EBS wishes to acknowledge the continued support of the Minister and the assistance of the Central Bank in Ireland in these matters and is extremely grateful to the Government for the recapitalisation,' a statement from the building society said.
