Bank of Ireland says may sell stock to help redeem preference shares

Bank of Ireland (BoI) (BIR.IR) said it may sell new shares to help repay 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) of state-owned preference shares the bank had to issue as part of its 2009 bailout. A successful redemption of the preference shares would be a big milestone for the bank, the banking sector and for the Irish government ahead of its expected exit from an 85 billion euro international bailout next month. The bank is keen to redeem the preference shares soon because the cost of buying them back increases by 25 percent, or 450 million euros, in March 2014 under the terms of its 4.8 billion euros bailout during the financial crisis. The remainder of the 1.8 billion will be raised by issuing debt to private investors, the source said.

via Business News - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-ireland-says-may-sell-184850838.html