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Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. Tender offer for BZWBK launched by Santander

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  Published in Business and Finance on Monday, February 7th 2011 at 11:15 GMT by Market Wire
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DUBLIN, IRELAND--(Marketwire - February 7, 2011) -

Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. ("AIB") (NYSE: [ AIB ]) announced on 10 September 2010 that it had agreed to sell its Polish interests to Banco Santander S.A. ("Santander"). Santander today announced that it has launched a tender offer for 100 per cent of the share capital of Bank Zachodni WBK ("BZWBK").

In its announcement today, Santander said that the tender offer will be open for acceptance from 24 February to 25 March. It is expected that the tender offer will be settled and the transaction completed on 1 April 2011.

Once the tender offer is open for acceptance and all conditions to the sale agreement have been satisfied, AIB will tender its 51, 413,790 shares in BZWBK representing 70.36 per cent in the share capital of BZWBK. There is no change to the sales proceeds or capital effect expected and announced by AIB on 10 September 2010.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement may contain "forward-looking statements", within the meaning of Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements and speak only as of the date of this announcement. AIB expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any announcements or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained in this announcement with regard to any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:

(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and

(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. via Thomson Reuters ONE

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