PTSB said it remains focused on concluding its takeover by Austria’s Bawag as it characterised an announcement by a corporate advisory firm cofounded by a former boom-era banker as “highly speculative and conditional”.
Axis Capital, cofounded three years ago by former Bank of Scotland (Ireland) chief executive Mark Duffy, said on Friday evening it was considering a bid for PTSB, almost six months after the bank agreed to sell itself to Austria’s Bawag for €1.62 billion.
While it said any possible offer would be in cash at €3.20 per share – 7.7 per cent above the agreed price with Bawag – it also signalled it has yet to line up funding for such an offer.
Shares in PTSB rose 1 per cent to €3 in early trading on Monday.
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PTSB, which is 57.5 per cent Government-owned, said in a statement on Monday morning that “no offer has been made by Axis for the company and that the announcement by Axis is highly speculative and conditional”.
It added that the bank’s board “is focused on delivering value and certainty to the company’s shareholders and, in accordance with its legal obligations, is continuing to work with Bawag to satisfy the remaining conditions” of the agreement.
The High Court, which is overseeing the sale, which is being carried out by a so-called scheme of arrangement, is due to hold a sanctioning hearing on October 27th.
“The announcement may increase the likelihood of a higher-value outcome for shareholders and reduces the perception that the Bawag scheme is a foregone conclusion,” said Denis McGoldrick, an analyst with Goodbody. “However, until Axis can demonstrate a credible funding solution and progress to a firm offer, we continue to view Bawag’s agreed transaction as the option offering the greatest certainty of value realisation.”
Axis, which Duffy set up with German corporate lawyer Lutz Hartmann, had €100 of assets as of May 14th, the end of its financial year, according to an abridged set of financial accounts for the period filed with the Companies Registration Office. It said on Friday it will now engage with “a number of potential funding and investment partners” with a view to raising the necessary financing that would support the announcement of a firm intention to make an offer.
[ Former banker Mark Duffy’s Axis Capital ‘considering PTSB bid’Opens in new window ]
Axis Capital helped initiate talks in 2025 between New York private equity firm Centerbridge, the Department of Finance and PTSB. Centerbridge later submitted a non-binding proposal for the State’s 57.5 per cent stake but was the underbidder to Bawag when the formal sale process concluded in April.
The Business Post reported in July that Axis was urging minority shareholders to oppose the planned sale. In a circulated note, Axis said it was “increasingly uncomfortable” with the process, citing “inordinate involvement from one shareholder”.
Duffy said on LinkedIn that Axis had asked the panel to reopen the sale process so “all credible bidders” could make final bids to shareholders.
PTSB secured 91.3 per cent shareholder backing for the Bawag takeover at a late-July extraordinary general meeting (egm), led by the Government’s 57.5 per cent stake. However, about 36 per cent of minority investors voted against it.
Some small investors are expected to seek a second minority shareholder vote through the courts. PTSB says it has strong legal advice that only one vote count is required.
“Even if there is no further announcement from Axis Capital in the next couple of weeks, it is possible that minority shareholders who are resistant to transacting with Bawag at 297c per share might apply to adjourn the sanction hearing until Axis Capital’s position becomes clearer,” said John Cronin, founder of SeaPoint Insights, an independent research and analysis firm specialising in the banking and finance sectors.
“But would any such adjournment application succeed on the back of an announcement by Axis Capital of just a possible offer, with no certainty of funding in place?”
