AIB in €3bn debt buy-back offer

AIB has launched a debt repurchasing offer which could potentially raise up to €3 billion — half of the funds needed for it to meet fresh capital requirements.

As well as nearly nationalising the bank, the Government’s latest €3.7bn capital injection in AIB, just prior to Christmas, lowered the amount of money it needs to raise by the end of February in order fir it to meet revised capital targets.

Prior to that funding — which immediately upped the state’s stake in AIB to 49.9%, and nearly 93% following the still pending completion of the sale of the bank’s Polish operations to Spanish bank, Santander — AIB required fresh capital of €9.76bn; but it now needs to raise €6.1bn by the end of next month.