National pension fund liquidates €10bn of assets

The National Pensions Reserve Fund has liquidated €10bn of assets during the first half of 2011, it was confirmed today.

The move comes in response to directions from Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to fund part of the State’s €17.5bn contribution to the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland.

As a result, the Discretionary Portfolio (excluding the public policy investments in Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks) has reduced in size to €5.3bn.

The Directed Portfolio (public policy investments made at the direction of the Minister for Finance) is now valued at €15.5bn and comprises both ordinary shares and preference shares in AIB and BoI in addition to the cash realised from asset sales and set aside for the Support Programme.

The total fund size at June 30 was €20.8bn.