DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland could review its plans to sell a 25 percent stake in Allied Irish Banks (I:ALBK) early next year if circumstances change, finance minister Michael Noonan said on Thursday.
"I'm not stating a new position today but as circumstances change, policy can change," Noonan told a parliamentary committee when asked if a sale would take place beyond the first half of next year in light of the political and market uncertainty caused by Britain's vote to quit the European Union.
Earlier this year Dublin pushed back the timetable to partially cash out on its 21 billion euro (17.39 billion pound)investment in the 99-percent state-owned bank to the first half of 2017 after a market fall cut its value.
Share prices of Irish banks, whose exposure to the United Kingdom accounts for around 21 percent of total assets, fell further after the country's nearest neighbour voted to leave the EU in a referendum last week.
Other planned share sales and listings have been in doubt since the market volatility which followed Britain's decision to leave the EU last week, with Italian air traffic controller ENAV set to delay its listing by at least a few days and possibly by several weeks due to the uncertainty.
Global equity capital markets activity has sunk to a four-year low in 2016 according to quarterly ThomsonReuters data, although bankers and investors said that while Brexit could dent volumes it would not sink the market.
Noonan said there was no hurry for Ireland to sell.
"Our policy is to sell when the best price can be achieved. There is no pressure on us to sell bank shares to reduce the (national) debt," Noonan said.