US SHAREHOLDER:BANK OF IRELAND'S largest shareholder, the activist US fund manager Harris Associates, has reduced its stake to 8.3 per cent from 9.2 per cent according to a share sale announced yesterday.

The transaction was completed on May 21st when Bank of Ireland shares closed at €1.45, with just over 9 million shares sold.

Following the share sale, Harris holds 83.47 million shares in the bank. At last night’s closing price of €1.50, this stake was worth approximately €125 million.

Harris said on November 19th last that it had increased its stake from 5 to 6.05 per cent. On that date, the closing price was €1.05.

Later that month it emerged that the bank had held talks with up to four parties that expressed an interest in making an investment in the bank.

Between January 8th and January 14th, Chicago-based Harris announced it had increased its stake to 9.24 per cent in three separate share trades.

The bank’s shares closed at 92 cent on January 8th and at 85 cent on January 14th. Its shares then fell sharply and hit a record low of 12.5 cent on March 5th, but have rallied since.

One Dublin broker noted that the sale of 9 million shares by Harris “would have happened in the previous trading days after the strong run in Bank of Ireland’s share price post results”.

A spokesman for Harris could not be reached for comment last night.