Bank of Ireland has announced that it intends to raise €580 million worth of equity today as part of an agreed deal to repay €1.8 billion of Government-owned preference shares. The plan was introduced back in 2009 when the bank was rescued by the Government.

The share issuance will redeem €537 million of the shares, with the remainder of the €1.8 billion to be raised by issuing debt secured on the preference shares. The results will be announced later on today, Bank of Ireland released a statement this morning saying

“Over the past four and a half years the bank has taken a number of significant steps to normalise its relationship with the state. This capital package is a very material part of the normalisation. ” The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan released a statement welcoming the announcement and saying that this deal would generate profit for taxpayers on the shares.