Axis weighs €1.74 billion bid for Permanent TSB, plans to seek court adjournment
Key Facts
Ireland's Axis Capital said it plans to seek a court adjournment of the takeover proceedings for Permanent TSB to allow time to prepare a potential rival bid to BAWAG's agreed deal. The company was considering a cash offer of €3.20 per share in October 2026, valuing the Irish bank at €1.74 billion, according to a Reuters report published on Euronext's official website. That proposed valuation puts the potential bid above the approximate total consideration of €1.619 billion for BAWAG's deal, according to the group's disclosure of the April 2026 agreement. Axis wants time to conduct due diligence and obtain the financing approvals needed to pursue its efforts. It is acting as a party considering a challenge to the agreed buyer, rather than as a purchaser in BAWAG's existing deal. Whether to grant an adjournment, and on what terms, remains a decision for the court to which the company plans to apply.
Axis said in its additional financing disclosure that its request for more time relates to completing work on the potential offer, including due diligence on the bank and arrangements to obtain financing approvals. The company pursuing these efforts is Axis Capital Limited, a finance and advisory company with its registered office in Dublin. BAWAG, meanwhile, said in its third-quarter results statement that strong capital generation leaves it well placed to fund the planned acquisition entirely from its own resources. Describing its financing capacity, the group added: "We are well positioned to fully self-fund the planned acquisition." BAWAG thus enters the potential contest backed by its stated ability to fund the deal itself, while Axis seeks time to obtain financing approvals for the bid it is considering.
Axis's efforts also included filing a complaint with the Irish Takeover Panel over alleged breaches of takeover rules, according to the company's official transaction page. The company acknowledged that the panel had rejected the basis of its complaint. But it maintained its objection to the reasoning behind the rejection, saying: "Axis continues to disagree with the panel's principal arguments for its rejection." That position coincides with the company's efforts to secure a court adjournment allowing it to continue due diligence and work on financing. Axis's efforts thus combine a challenge to the existing takeover process with consideration of a cash alternative for shareholders, while its offer remains a possibility.
The agreed deal with BAWAG dates to April 2026, when the group announced its cash offer to acquire the bank for an approximate total consideration. BAWAG said at the time that the offer had the support of Ireland's finance minister, who owned about 57.5% of Permanent TSB's shares. In July 2026, the deal won backing from 91% of votes cast at the scheme meeting, according to the group's statement on shareholder approval. That percentage refers to votes cast at the meeting, while the minister's stake represents his ownership of the bank's shares when the agreement was announced. Axis therefore faces, in its efforts to compete, a deal that has passed a shareholder vote, alongside the support BAWAG announced from the government shareholder.
The remaining steps to complete BAWAG's acquisition include the necessary regulatory approvals and sanction by the Irish High Court, under the conditions set out in the official transaction disclosure. Those conditions make shareholder approval one milestone in the completion process announced by the group. Axis's planned adjournment request targets the deal's court proceedings, seeking an opportunity to finish preparing the potential alternative. The decision on that request and the terms of any adjournment remain within the court's remit. Permanent TSB said in its July update that it expected the acquisition to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, subject to the remaining conditions being met.