DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 10, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. ("AIB") (NYSE:AIB) today announces the issue of Euro 1,000 million perpetual preferred securities.
The issue qualifies as Tier 1 Capital for the AIB Group and will be primarily employed in financing the strong demand from our customers for additional borrowing facilities. This funding is very attractively priced for a perpetual issue, with an initial coupon for the first ten years of 4.781% and, thereafter, coupon will be set at a spread of 1.1% over 3-month EURIBOR. This is AIB's largest perpetual capital issue and the pricing compares very favourably with market norms. The AIB Group Tier 1 ratio is estimated at 7.5% approx. following completion of this transaction.