Timing of €3bn AIB sale pivots on Marine Le Pen vote

The Government is on course to sell up to €3bn worth of shares in AIB in late May — providing that the outcome of looming French election does not disturb banking markets.

The sale of a 25% stake in the bank which was all but fully nationalised at the height of the financial crisis over six years ago has been scheduled for a sale in late May or June, at the earliest, if market conditions allow.

Plans to start selling shares to investors in the bank last year had to be scrapped as bank valuations across Europe went on the slide. Deep fears over the health of the loan books of European banks have since eased.