A European financial institution is set to make a 1 billion euro ($1.45 billion) take-over bid for Irish insurer FBD Holdings Plc, the Sunday Business Post newspaper reported. A spokesman for FBD said the company did not comment on market speculation.
The report, which did not cite sources, said the unnamed European financial institution was believed to have begun stake building with a view to launching a bid for FBD, which had become an attractive take-over target.
Irish financial stocks have been hard hit this year after the global credit crunch compounded existing worries over the impact on earnings growth of an end to Ireland's decade-long property boom. The Sunday Business Post said FBD's shares were heavily traded last week. A company's shares can be acquired through derivatives instruments called contracts for difference, which do not need to be declared. FBD is due to issue a trading statement on Monday.