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Polestar secures $200 million funding from PSD Investment

Polestar secures $200 million funding from PSD Investment

Reuters5 hours ago

June 16 (Reuters) - Polestar has secured a $200 million equity investment from its major shareholder and private debt fund PSD Investment, the Swedish electric vehicle maker said on Monday.

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Ireland to sell final AIB shares 15 years after banking crisis
Ireland to sell final AIB shares 15 years after banking crisis

Reuters

time17 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Ireland to sell final AIB shares 15 years after banking crisis

DUBLIN, June 16 (Reuters) - The Irish government on Monday launched the sale of its remaining shares in AIB Group (AIBG.I), opens new tab, one of the country's two dominant lenders it effectively nationalised 15 years ago, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said. Ireland pumped 64 billion euros ($74.10 billion) or almost 40% of its then annual economic output, into the country's banks after a huge property crash in the late 2000s stemming from the global financial crisis. Two banks that swallowed up more than half of the capital still failed. Most of the remaining funds - 21 billion euros - went into AIB and the state's return from the bank stood at 19.2 billion euros last month when its shareholding dropped to 3.3%. AIB is also it talks to buy back stock warrants the government holds in the bank. The transaction will leave Ireland with a 57% stake in the smaller Permanent TSB (PTSB.I), opens new tab to sell to complete its long withdrawal from the sector. It sold the last of its shares in AIB's chief rival Bank of Ireland (BIRG.I), opens new tab in 2022. "This is an important milestone in delivering on the policy of returning the banking sector to private ownership," Donohoe said, announcing the sale of the state's final 2% holding by way of an accelerated bookbuild transaction. The government has sold small amounts of shares between its bigger transactions, resulting in the now 2% holding. Books on the transaction are covered, a bookrunner on the deal said shortly after it was announced. While Dublin is unlikely to fully recoup the cost of bailing out AIB, Donohoe said last month the state was at that point 300 million euros above break-even on its 29.4 billion investment in the three banks, mainly thanks to recovering 6.7 billion euros from the 4.7 billion it pumped into Bank of Ireland. The government removed a 500,000 euro pay cap from Bank of Ireland after completing a review of the sector's pay restrictions shortly after the bank returned to full private ownership. The cap remained in place for AIB and Permanent TSB. ($1 = 0.8637 euros)

Metro Bank sobers up and attracts a suitor
Metro Bank sobers up and attracts a suitor

The Guardian

time28 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Metro Bank sobers up and attracts a suitor

Some departures from the shrinking London stock market hurt more than others. It is doubtful that Metro Bank, if it's about to fall to an approach from a London private equity firm, will be mourned by those shareholders on the wrong end of the wild ride for the shares from £20 at listing in 2016, to £40 two years later, to a plunge and painful recapitalisation at just 30p in 2023. In the overhyped early years, Metro said it was going to revolutionise high street banking via the novel strategy of opening expensive branches while the fuddy-duddy old guard were closing them. The party ended in an arduous tale of an accounting blunder, run-ins with regulators and a need for more capital, factors that inevitably weighed more heavily than the bank's gimmicks such as giving free dog biscuits to the customers' canines. But – surprise, surprise – Metro these days is not an enfeebled lender waiting to be put out of its misery. In recapitalised and less flashy form for the last couple of years, it has been making quiet progress from its lowered horizons. The branches have been kept, but costs have been taken out, most of the loan-book has been redirected towards small businesses and the number of accounts has grown. Profits appeared again at the end of last year. If you caught the bottom for the shares in 2023's rescue deal, as Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal did by topping up his stake to 53%, you did well. Even before potential takeover interest from Pollen Street Capital, as reported by Sky News at the weekend, the shares had improved to 112p. It is why Metro doesn't necessarily need to throw itself into the arms of Pollen Street at any price. The would-be bidder's reported interest is probably motivated by thoughts of a second deal to combine Metro and Shawbrook, the business-focused lender that Pollen Street owns with fellow private equity outfit BC Partners. It's true that a combination would have financial logic on its side. Metro would bring cheap funding from a sticky deposit base of current accounts; Shawbrook has a faster-growing loan book across buy-to-let mortgages, commercial property and small businesses. 'The value for Shawbrook in maintaining asset growth momentum at the same time as reducing deposit costs is potentially significant,' argue analysts at KBW. As they also say, a deal hinges on two factors. First, whether Metro's management and shareholders – critically, Gilinski – want to head to the exit at a point when the reinvention of their bank is supposed to have several more laps to run. Second, the price Pollen Street would be prepared to offer. But the market clearly expects a deal: Metro's shares rose 18% to 133p, giving a £890m valuation. It makes you wonder what might have been if Metro, version one, hadn't attempted an all-conquering retail strategy that took it to the brink of collapse and a near-quadrupling of the share count. Version two – sober, better capitalised and with small businesses as the target for lending – has been vastly better.

Instant Payments Regulation: Facing the Skeletons in the Closet
Instant Payments Regulation: Facing the Skeletons in the Closet

Finextra

timean hour ago

  • Finextra

Instant Payments Regulation: Facing the Skeletons in the Closet

Joining the FinextraTV Studio during EBAday 2025 were Serge Wagener, Member of the EBA Board and Chair of the EBA Practitioners Group on Instant Payments and Annick Moes, Head of Industry Issues, Cooperation Initiatives and Communications, EBA. Both Wagener and Moes pointed out ongoing challenges in implementing the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), such as delivering Verification of Payee for bulk payments. Referencing their newest publication, they stressed how EBAday gave experts the opportunity to bring out the skeletons from the closet and discuss their implementation concerns with peers.

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