Irish finance minister says AIB stake sale likely in 2016

DUBLIN, March 12 (Reuters) - Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) may sell a 25 percent stake in Allied Irish Banks late this year, but the sale is more likely to take place in 2016, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Thursday.

"The earliest we could contemplate for the sale of a tranche of AIB would be later this year, and there is no certainty about that," Noonan told RTE radio.

"If I was a betting man I would say that 2016 is more likely than 2015, but we'll see." (Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Pravin Char)