Irish government takes first step towards re-listing Allied Irish Banks
Ireland's government has taken its first step towards re-listing Allied Irish Bank with a little help from banking titan Goldman Sachs.
The Irish government announced it had appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on the bank's relisting, the completion of which would return some €21bn (£16.4bn) to the taxpayer following a bailout in 2010.
Finance minister Michael Noonan wrote in an opinion piece in today's Irish Times:
I am confident that over time we will at a minimum fully recover the funds that this government invested in Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB.
He also said the government hopes to sell at least some of its stake in Allied Irish Banks and Permanent TSB. The latter had been part of the former Irish Life and Permanent which was split during the global financial crisis.
It had rescued the banks after they became one of the country's biggest casualties from the global financial crisis. When Ireland's property bubble burst, the government was forced to pump €64bn into its financial system.