Bank of Ireland and BOI Private Banking seek merger approval

An application to merge Bank of Ireland Private Banking into Bank of Ireland will be heard at the Commercial Court next month.

The merger application is being made under the Companies Act and, if granted, will mean BOIPB, curently registered as a private limited company, will no longer exist as a separate entity from BOI.

Because court approval is required for such a merger, Denis McDonald SC, for Bank of Ireland and BOIPB, applied on Monday to have the relevant petition admitted to the Commercial Court.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern agreed to admit the matter and fixed July 21st as the hearing date for the petition.

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In an affidavit, BOI director Andrew Keating said the merger will result in BOI being the successor and surviving company. The aim of the merger is to rationalise and simplify the group organisational (legal entity) structure by having BOIPB operate as a client segment within the retail division of the group, rather than as a stand-alone legal entity, he said.

In the interests of commercial certainty, it is important the transaction be concluded expeditiously, he said. Because it is critical that the banks, their employees and customers have certainty on the completion timeline, the application was made to the fast-track Commercial Court, he added.

The value of the business being transferred is significant, he also said. As of December 31st 2016, BOI had total assets of some €80.8 billion and liabilities of some €72.7 billion, giving a net asset value of some €8.1 billion. BOIPB had some €41.5million assets and some €6.4 million liabilities, giving a net asset value of some €35.1 million