Six more banks added to AIB initial public offering

AN additional six banks were added to a planned initial public offering of AIB yesterday, heightening expectations the Government will pull the trigger on the partial privatisation before the summer.

As widely anticipated, Goodbody stockbrokers, the lender’s corporate adviser, landed a role as joint book-runner, alongside global investment banks.

Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, UBS were also included on the ticket with the co-lead manager position assigned to Investec, the South African-based specialist bank.

The newly-appointed group of advisers takes the total number of banks charged with returning AIB to the stock market this year to nine with the total fee pool on the deal set to reach close to €40m.

The bulk is likely to be divided between Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Davy and Deutsche, who were appointed as global lead arrangers in December. Rothschild was drafted in at an earlier stage as an independent financial adviser to the Government.

The Department of Finance flagged its intention to appoint more banks to the IPO syndicate earlier this month.

The Government also stated that smaller investors would have the opportunity to participate in the deal with the investment threshold likely to be set at €10,000.

But yesterday’s confirmation of the expanded syndicate will cement hopes of a May or June float, widely viewed as Minister for Finance Michael Noonan’s preferred timeframe.

Recent frictions within Fine Gael had fuelled fears the Government’s sale of a 25pc stake in the lender could face a lengthy delay.

AIB pledged to pay a €250m dividend at its annual results – the first since 2008.