Bank of Ireland (BoI) raised 580 million euros ($788 million) through a share sale as part of a milestone deal to repay 1.9 billion euros to the state, handing the government a timely financial boost.
The redemption of preference shares issued when the part state-owned lender was rescued in 2009 cuts its reliance on the government less than two weeks before Ireland is set to become the first euro zone country to exit an EU/IMF bailout.
The announcement comes after Reuters cited a source familiar with the deal as saying Bank of Ireland would raise between 500 and 600 million euros of new equity as early as this week and would repay the rest through issuing debt.
The deal also follows a steady stream of more positive economic news in Ireland, including the fastest fall in unemployment in four years, that convinced Dublin to make a clean break from its bailout program.
BoI, the only Irish lender to escape nationalization, had faced a March 2014 deadline to pay back the state before a clause under its 4.8 billion euro bailout increased the cost of buying the shares back by 25 percent, or 450 million euros.
Source: Reuters
