A corporate finance firm cofounded by former Bank of Scotland (Ireland) chief executive Mark Duffy has said it is considering a bid for PTSB, almost six months after the bank agreed to sell itself to Austria’s Bawag for €1.62 billion.
Axis Capital, which was set up in Dublin three years ago, said any possible offer would be in cash at a price of €3.20 per share – 7.7 per cent above the agreed price with Bawag.
However, the firm said that it has yet to line up funding for such an offer.
“Axis will now engage with a number of potential funding and investment partners with a view to raising the necessary financing that would support the announcement of a firm intention to make an offer for PTSB,” it said.
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“There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any such offer might be made.”
Axis Capital helped initiate talks in 2025 between New York private equity firm Centerbridge, the Department of Finance and PTSB.
The US group subsequently submitted a non-binding proposal last September for the State’s 57.5 per cent stake in the bank. Centerbridge would end up as the underbidder to Bawag in April as a formal sales process, initiated in October, concluded.
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Axis was reported by the Business Post in July to have been urging minority shareholders to vote against the planned sale at an extraordinary general meeting (egm) later that month. Axis said in a note circulated that it had become “increasingly uncomfortable with the way the process has developed”, claiming that there had been “inordinate involvement from one shareholder, leaving others effectively as bystanders”.
Duffy said in a post on LinkedIn, the professional social networking platform, in July that Axis had asked the panel to reopen the sale process to allow “all credible bidders to make their best and final bids to all shareholders”.
The move comes just weeks before the High Court is due to hold a sanctioning hearing on October 27th on the Bawag deal.
PTSB secured backing from 91.3 per cent of shareholders – led by the Government, which owns 57.5 per cent of the bank – for the Bawag takeover at an egm in late July. However, some 36 per cent of minority investors voted against the transaction at the meeting.
Some small investors are expected to ask the court to order a second vote to be held of minority investors. PTSB has said it has strong legal advice that only one vote count is necessary.
