A group of institutional investors led by Fairfax Financial Holdings has completed a deal to take a stake of just under 35% in Bank of Ireland.
The Government announced in July that the group was investing up to €1.12 billion in the bank. As well as Fairfax, the group includes WL Ross, Capital Research (part of The Capital Group), Fidelity Investments and Kennedy Wilson.
They bought just under 2.4 billion Bank of Ireland shares from the National Pensions Reserve Commission in August, and today bought a final block of just over eight billion shares from the NPRC.
The NPRC, which holds shares on behalf of the State, is now left with a stake of just over 15% in Bank of Ireland.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan welcomed the conclusion of the deal. "It further underlines how we are successfully breaking the link between bank risk and the sovereign,” he said.
