IRISH LIFE and Permanent has been chosen as the preferred bidder for AIB Investment Managers, the fund management business of Allied Irish Banks (AIB).
The company’s fund manager, Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), has entered exclusive talks to buy the business, according to a source familiar with the sales process.
ILIM would move further ahead as the country’s biggest fund manager if a deal was concluded. Discussions towards completing a sale are expected to take several weeks, the source said.
The company has assets of €32 billion under management, while AIBIM has €8.5 billion. The company has a price tag of €20 - €25 million.
Bank of Ireland Asset Management, which had about €26 billion of assets under management last September, had been the top fund management until recent years when it was leapfrogged by ILIM.
BIAM, whose assets under management fell from €57 billion in 2004, was sold to US financial group State Street last October for €57 million.
Swiss asset manager Bellevue Group and stockbroking firm Bloxham were among the bidders for AIBIM.
IIU, the investment firm owned by financier Dermot Desmond, was also reported to have been interested in the business.
AIB is disposing of assets to raise cash to meet higher capital levels under the bailout agreed by the Government with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The bank must raise a further €4.7 billion to bring tier 1 capital ratios to a minimum of 12 per cent, though its may need more following the Central Bank’s next stress tests at the end of March.
The Government’s stake in AIB rose to 92.8 per cent following a further €3.7 billion capital injection into the bank last December, bringing the State’s bailout of the bank to €7.2 billion.
