AIB chairman sees big appetite for potential IPO

DUBLIN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Allied Irish Banks (Irish: 30544177.IR - news) expects strong demand from investors if the government goes ahead with its planned sale of a 25 percent stake after elections next year, the 99-percent state owned bank's chairman said on Wednesday.

"Whenever it happens that the shares are listed, subject to market conditions, we expect very strong investment appetite for this bank. The appetite for the two securities we issued was absolutely enormous," Richard Pym told a shareholder meeting, referring to recent bond sales.

"People do want to buy AIB, they do want to buy into the Irish success story. There is a very strong investment story." (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Susan Thomas)