Good detailed post by namawinelake on AIB bailout with our pension fund
Why is Brian Lenihan about to take €1.8bn from pensioners to bail out AIB shareholders and junior bondholders?
from NAMA Wine Lake by namawinelakeThe short answer is “I don’t know” but this is precisely what this modern day inverse of Robin Hood is about to do – take €5.4bn from our National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) to buy shares in Allied Irish Banks (AIB and for our international friends again has nothing whatsoever to do with Anglo Irish Bank which is known here domestically simply as “Anglo”), and he is making the NPRF buy the shares at €0.50 each when two days ago, on Friday last they closed at €0.337 per share meaning that the NPRF will incur a loss of €1,760m from the start. The NPRF was set up to fund future pensions of ordinary citizens from 2025. AIB meanwhile had a market value of €364.2m of which we, the State, own €66.7m (that shareholding is from the conversion of our 8% dividend due on the €3.5bn preference shareholding in May 2010 to ordinary shares). According to the latest AIB accounts (the Interim Report for the first six months of 2010) the bank appeared to have over €4bn of junior (or subordinated) bondholders (note 32 on page 87). As we know, we can legally require these junior bondholders to accept a haircut on their debt. So, why is Brian Lenihan forcing our pensioners to pay €1.8bn to bail out the remaining €297m of private AIB shareholders and €4bn+ of subordinated debt holders? This entry examines the issue. (link to full article)
