Investors favourable to AIB

An investor who suffered a “significant loss” on his AIB debt holdings has said that the bank now represents a credible investment prospect.

“Senior debt would be a slam dunk and sub debt is also credible for the right clientele at the right pricing level,” New York investment banker Carlos Abadi, president of Abadi and Co, told wire agency Bloomberg. Mr Abadi added that he was “prepared to extend new financing to AIB”.

“Post restructuring it has a very strong capital position,” he said.

In June, AIB posted a core Tier 1 capital ratio of 17.3 per cent, ahead of the 10.5 per cent required by the Central Bank as a buffer against losses.

Following its successful issuance of €500 million in covered bonds in November, AIB, which is 99.8 per cent owned by the state, is now gearing up to rebalance its funding strategy and sell senior unsecured and subordinated debt.