Axis Capital asks High Court to disrupt Bawag's buy of Permanent TSB

Axis Capital Ltd C on Thursday petitioned the Irish High Court to disrupt the planned takeover of Dublin-based bank Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC by Vienna-based lender Bawag Group AG.

Axis Capital, a Dublin-based advisory firm, said it will ask the High Court at the hearing scheduled for next week Tuesday to adjourn takeover proceedings by up to six weeks. It added that Bawag indicated an expected completion in the first quarter of 2027.

Axis Capital said in response to concerns regarding its financial resources, it provided Permanent TSB Chair Julie O'Neill with a letter from its financial adviser Quirin Privatbank AG, describing an institutional funding interest.

Axis Capital said that the letter records that Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel Company, ["KBW"], has introduced Axis to a large global investment manager which is a prospective client of KBW, the possible funder. It added that KBW has not been engaged by Axis or the possible funder in connection with the possible offer.

Earlier this month, Axis Capital, said that it was considering making a cash offer priced at EUR3.20 per share. Based on Permanent TSB's 545.0 million issued shares, that offer would be worth EUR1.74 billion in total.

It is 7.7% higher than the offer of EUR2.97 per share from BAWAG, a subsidiary of BAWAG PSK, which values Permanent TSB at EUR1.62 billion.

BAWAG and Permanent TSB had agreed to the terms of the takeover in April, and shareholders approved the transaction at a general meeting in July. A court sanction hearing is scheduled on October 27.

So far, Permanent TSB dismissed the approach from Axis as "speculative", and has said the same about another expression of interest, made in October by London-based investment firm Scotchstone Capital LLP.

For its part, Axis has stressed that it "treats PTSB as an Irish platform to build on, not an asset to fold into a foreign group".

Permanent TSB shares were flat at EUR2.98 each in Dublin, and fell 3.3% to EUR2.90 each on Thursday afternoon in London.

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