The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, today announced that he had accepted an offer from Rabobank Nederland for ACC Bank which values the bank at €165 million.
The Minister's acceptance is subject to a motion of approval for the disposal of his shares being passed by the Dáil.
The sale of the bank, the terms of which were negotiated and recommended to the Minister by the board of ACC, should be completed in the first quarter of 2002.
The staff of ACC Bank plc have voted in favour of the terms of an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) which was negotiated as part of the sale process.
Under the terms of the ESOP, the employees will receive 5 per cent of the bank in return for entering into a transformation and flexibility agreement and a further 9.9 per cent will be bought by an Employee Share Ownership Trust.