According to figures released by the Department of Finance, a total of €3.96m has been paid to the global financial-services group since 2016 relating to the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of AIB, as well advising on the trading plans of the two main pillar banks and a number of directed buyback transactions.
While the invoices were paid by the National Treasury Management Agency, the cost was subsequently recouped from the banks involved.
The figure does not include the fees incurred on the recent AIB warrants transaction, as the Department says it has not yet received invoices relating to this work.
A further €573,000 has been paid to the legal firm William Fry over the last four years for advice in relation to AIB and PTSB, in which the State holds a 57pc share. Just over €470,000 of this amount can be recouped from the two banks.
PTSB was put up for sale last month, and the Department of Finance has appointed Rothschild and William Fry as financial and legal advisers in relation to the process.
The State sold its remaining shareholding in Bank of Ireland in September 2022, making it the first Irish bank to return to full private ownership.
In 2017, the reflotation of AIB resulted in the sale of almost 29pc of the bank’s shares, recouping €3.4bn for the Exchequer, and the State has since wound down its shareholding, fully exiting last month.
Asked about the terms under which Rothschild was hired, the Department of Finance said it ran a competitive tender process for the appointment of a panel of financial advisers. Firms were appointed for an initial period of three years, up to October, with an option to extend for a further year.
In Lot 1 of the process, for advice on capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, the panel includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Davy, Goodbody Stockbrokers and Goldman Sachs, as well as Rothschild.
The Department also had a tender process to appoint legal advisers, with Arthur Cox, Eversheds Sutherland, Mason Hayes & Curran and William Fry put on a panel for up to four years.
The cost of the disposal of the State’s shareholding in AIB is in line with a projection Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe made in answer to a Dáil question in 2017. He said fees payable to Rothschild and William Fry, and to communications advisers Gordon MRM and Citigate Dewe Rogerson, would come to about €4m.
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