Bank of Ireland gets June deadline to raise cash

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Bank of Ireland will avoid majority state ownership if they succeed in raising funds privately by June and negotiate with subordinated debt holders, Ireland's finance minister said on Thursday.

"Bank of Ireland think they can access private funds and we are giving them until June to see (if they can) do that, and they have also negotiations with subordinated bondholders," Finance Minister Michael Noonan told a news conference.

"If they are successful at that, they will continue to be publicly quoted and would not be majority owned by the state."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Steve Slater)