AIB's egm votes for working with Nama

SHAREHOLDERS AT AIB yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour of working with the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Executive chairman Dan O’Connor had earlier told investors that approval of the measure would help reduce uncertainty and assist AIB in raising capital.

Speaking at an extraordinary general meeting (egm), he said it would become clear over the next three months whether AIB needed to get more capital from the State. Asked whether the bank was going to be nationalised, Mr O’Connor said current uncertainty was reflected in the bank’s share price.

“We estimate that Nama will acquire from AIB land and development loans and certain associated loans with an aggregate value of approximately €24.2 billion. Consideration for the Nama assets acquired from AIB will be in the form of Nama bonds, which we expect based on the Minister’s public guidance, will be approximately €17 billion.”

It was not until the loans were actually sold to Nama that the bank would know the precise discount that would be applied, he said. Also, it was still unclear how much capital the bank would require. It would take some time before these uncertainties were dealt with.

A number of options for raising capital were available, he said. These were: selling assets, getting a strategic investor, private investment, and public investment.

“We may have to take equity from the Government. That will become clearer over the next three months.”

The measure received 99.7 per cent support from those voting. A second measure, to allow certain shareholder meetings be held with 14 days’ notice, was passed with a similar majority.

Mr O’Connor said he and the board “fully accept that many of AIB’s problems have been self-inflicted”.

“I want to put on record our acknowledgement of, and gratitude for, the support of the Irish Government and taxpayers and the key role they have played in helping us deal with these unprecedented events. I also want to express our deep regret to all our shareholders for the part AIB has played in the events which have led us here today.”

He said the bank’s chairman and chief executive had been changed and, at divisional level, other significant changes had been made. The bank’s difficulties were located in the division that dealt with Irish property lending. There had been management changes in the division, and further management changes would soon be announced by the new group managing director, Colm Doherty, he said.

Also, a more centralised risk assessment system would be put in place.

Asked about Mr Doherty’s appointment from inside the bank, Mr O’Connor said the search for a new chief executive had been exhaustive. “We picked the best person for the job.” Asked whether Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan had wanted an outsider, he said the board had a fiduciary duty to pick the best person.

On his own position, he said: “I certainly acknowledge that being executive chairman is not best practice.” He would be doing the job for only six months, and would have a special function in relation to Nama, dealings with the EU, and the raising of capital. He said the bank needed to be fixed. “We need to get it fixed for Ireland.”

A number of shareholders praised Mr O’Connor on how he dealt with questions and said he compared favourably with former chairman Dermot Gleeson, who sometimes “jumped down the throats” of shareholders.

Asked about the idea promoted by the governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, that there be an inquiry into what had gone wrong with the Irish financial system, he said if an inquiry was established, “we will co-operate 100 per cent”. He would not give his personal view on the matter.

A number of shareholders who spoke referred to how the collapse in the bank’s value had affected them personally. “I once had an inheritance, now I have some AIB shares,” one shareholder said. Another said her father had sold the family home to pay for his care in old age. “He became an AIB millionaire. Now he has nothing.”

Another shareholder said he was a former public servant. His former colleagues had to take pay cuts “directly due to this bank”, yet the bank’s employees had received pay rises. He recommended shareholders vote against the measure and that the Government “cut to the chase”, nationalise AIB, and reform it.