Allied Irish Bank is to sell its 22% stake in the New York based M&T Bank Corporation, through a public share offering.

AIB last night announced that it was disposing of its 22% or €1.6 billion shareholding in US bank M&T.

AIB is looking at virtual nationalisation, with the state likely to end up with a 90% equity holding.

AIB is still expected to conclude a deal on the disposal of its 23% stake in New York-based lender M&T Bank in the near future despite reports suggesting merger talks between M&T and Spanish group Santander have broken down.

AIB is expected to conclude the €1.2 billion sale of its 23% stake in US institution, M&T Bank, by the end of this month.

AIB is reportedly moving closer to concluding its second major overseas asset disposal, by off-loading its 23% stake in US bank M&T.

THE sale by AIB of its Polish unit Bank Zachodni WBK for €2.5 billion has not guaranteed it will avoid falling under state control.

Allied Irish Banks today confirmed it has agreed to sell its Polish interests for €3.1bn.

SPANISH bank Banco Santander – Europe’s biggest – is the front runner to buy AIB’s stake in Polish bank Zachodni WBK, in a head-to-head bidding war Poland’s biggest bank PKO BP which could garner €2.5 billion for the troubled Irish bank.

AIB could be close to raising part of its end-of-year capital requirement through the sale of its 22.5% stake in New York-based M&T Bank.

THE need for a continuation of the Government bank guarantee was highlighted this week by the country’s top bank – AIB.

SHARES in AIB shed 5.57% of their valueyesterday to 0.93 cent as investors reacted badly to the group’s €2bn losses for the first half of 2010.

AIB’s chances of offloading its 23% stake in US bank, M&T were done no harm yesterday, with the New York-based company announcing a near $140 million (€109m) year-on-year increase in second quarter profits.

A MINIMUM of seven international financial services companies have expressed an interest in acquiring AIB’s 70% stake in Polish player, Bank Zachodni, according to reports emanating from Poland.

AIB could place its 22.5% stake in US bank M&T with institutional investors if it fails to secure a purchaser.

POLAND is set to back a bid by the state-controlled lender PKO to buy the Polish operations of AIB, a government minister said.

THE cash-rich Co Kerry-based financial services company FEXCO is on the cusp of buying Goodbody Stockbrokers from Allied Irish Bank.

SPANISH banking giant Santander, said to be interested in deals involving AIB’s British and US operations, could potentially be a bidder for the entire AIB group.

FIRST quarter profits at M&T Bank – the New York-based institution in which AIB holds a 23% stake – grew by $87 million (€64.5m), on an annualised basis, to $151m, helped by a lowering in lending costs.

US bank M&T - in which AIB has a 22.5% stake - reports first quarter results today.

AIB last night responded to the challenges laid down the by the new regulatory regime that demands it finds €7.4 billion to achieve an 8% tier 1 capital ratio by the year end.

ANALYSTS said the Government taking a 70% stake in AIB and 40% in Bank of Ireland will have positive implications for the economy over the coming years.

THERE is an unanswerable case now for the Government to publish a white paper on banking. The multiplicity of reasons for this needs to be chronicled.

M&T Bank saw its fourth-quarter earnings rise by 34%, beating analysts’s estimates, as the company’s bad debts fell.

DESPITE the recent assurances from Brian Lenihan about staying on as finance minister, bank share prices are destined to remain volatile for some time, warned Goodbody Stockbrokers banking analyst Eamonn Hughes.

AIB remains confident of raising necessary post-NAMA capital without the need of further Government assistance, but hasn’t ruled out the latter option.

BANK of Ireland is still rated a buying opportunity since its recent loss in share value, according to Merrion Stockbrokers.

AIB’s outgoing chief executive has poured cold water on the bank simply selling off overseas divisions in order to raise further funds for the group.

M&T BANK, the US bank in which AIB holds a near 23% stake, has reported a 40% year-on-year increase in third quarter net profits but has still seen a like-for-like fall of 46% in profit for the year to date.

AIB plans to sell off its €1.13 billion 22.64% holding in M&T Bank in the US to raise capital, it emerged yesterday.

SHARES in US-based M&T Bank Corp – 22.64% owned by AIB – are set to jump, accordingto the latest edition of Barron’s.

THE Government says it has no intention of nationalising the country’s two largest banks, as AIB revealed plans to raise a further €1.5 billion.

DUBLIN’s ISEQ index of shares dipped by 1.5% — or 42.77 points — to just over 2,810 points yesterday, but still managed to escape the worst of the stock market falls seen internationally after another day of growing concerns emanating from the credit crunch.

THOSE highly critical of the banking mess argued there would be no resolution to the credit crisis until each of the banks fully came clean on their bad debt levels.

AIB says it does not expect to be gobbled up in the current round of consolidation in the banking industry.

AIB expects its earnings to grow by a low double digit percentage this year despite a fall in profits at M&T Bank in the US where it has a 23.5% stake.

THE triple bid for the Dutch bank ABN Amro from Fortis, Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland raises the possibility of AIB, the country’s largest bank, becoming a takeover target.

ONE of the difficulties in gauging market swings is that they never turn out to be orderly.

THE Dublin market finished another day in negative territory ahead of key releases this week such as the Bank of England’s interest rate decision and non-farm payroll data in the US.

THE ISEQ Index ended higher yesterday as C&C recovered from the previous day‘s dramatic losses ending the session up 20.8 at 9,337.52.

Yesterday was a record- breaking day with the ISEQ index jumping a further 79.22 to 8,427.75.

THE ISEQ Index closed up mirroring the gains in other European bourses. The Dublin exchange was 17.58 points higher at 7828.68.

BANK shares traded higher in Dublin yesterday after speculation in the Financial Times that AIB could be in the sights of Spain’s largest bank, Santander.

M&T Bank, in which AIB has a 22% stake, has reported net profits of $782 million (€645m) for 2005.