The board of the ICC favoured the bank being sold to a purchaser prepared to maintain its emphasis on serving the small business community, its chief executive said yesterday.
Mr Michael Quinn said the sale of the bank would be completed by the end of the year, with formal expressions of interest expected from foreign and domestic banks some time in the summer. He said the board had no preference between Irish or foreign bidders.
He was speaking to reporters after ICC's annual general meeting in Dublin. "We have had a role serving the small and medium enterprise sector for many years and we would welcome purchasers who want to expand that role," he said.
He said the board would not be putting a price on the bank at this stage because it would emerge "during the sale process".
Several financial institutions are expected to bid for ICC and between £250 million and £300 million would be the likely purchase price based on the bank's last set of profit figures.
Mr Quinn said the advisers on the sale - ABN AMRO Corporate Finance and solicitors McCann FitzGerald - were currently "reading themselves in" before an information memorandum was produced - most likely at the end of May.
When asked was the board in favour of staff receiving a 14.9 per cent stake in the bank, Mr Quinn said the board was in favour "of a recognition of the staff's contribution over recent years".
However, he said the exact details of any employee share option plan (ESOP) were a matter for the Minister for Finance - the shareholder - and the unions.
When asked was the 14.9 per cent figure supported by management, Mr Quinn replied that the board's view was "not about percentages".
Speaking at the annual meeting, the chairman, Mr Phil Flynn, said ICC Capital Markets was finalising a new venture capital fund which would be "significantly larger than the £20 million fund established in 1994". He added that lending activity continued at a strong level in the first four months of this year. He said new lending increased by 10 per cent in this period when compared to last year.
