AIB silent on Eagle Star rumour

AIB was keeping quiet yesterday on speculation that a deal to buy the pensions arm of Eagle Star had hit the rocks.

A spokeswoman for the bank said she had no comment to make on reports that the deal had run into trouble. AIB has not commented on market talk that it was actually looking to buy Eagle Star, but it is widely believed to have been carrying out due diligence for a number of months. The whole of Eagle Star, including its insurance business, was put up for sale by its owners, Zurich Financial Services.

AIB is said to be keen to get their hands on the pension arm to add to its own Arklife business and bolster its market share. The price tag could have been up to €500 million, though AIB would have been able to make cost-savings by merging it with Arklife. It made profits of €60m in 2003.