Bank of Ireland's third largest shareholder has reduced its stake in the lender to 7.7pc.
Boston-based Fidelity Investments was one of five North American funds to invest a combined €1.1bn for 35pc of Bank of Ireland in June last year.
The deal was seen as a major vote of confidence in the bank and the country, and it allowed the lender to escape majority state control.
Under that deal, Fidelity invested €300m for around 9.9pc of the bank at a price of 10 cent per share.
It has now cut its holding stake to 7.96pc, according to an announcement made to the Irish Stock Exchange.
The sale of shares is likely to have been well below the price Fidelity paid for its stock.
Bank of Ireland shares closed up last night, but at 8.8 cent each they are trading well below the June 2011 level.
At the time of the June deal, there was speculation that the new investors would lock in their holdings for a fixed investment period, but no such provision was stipulated. That leaves the 2011 investors free to trade in and out of the stock.
Wilbur Ross and Canadian V Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial, also took stakes of over 9pc in the bank in 2011. Those holdings have been retained in full.
Earlier this month Bank of Ireland reported a pre-tax loss of €1.2 bn in the first six months of this year.
- Donal O'Donovan
Irish Independent
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