Ryanair makes a bid for Aer lingus

They've got 16% in the last week and just announced this to the stock exchange!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5408780.stm

netwhizkid

Nothing short of a thundering disgrace, Aer Lingus were one of the only State Owned aerlines left in the world making a profit, despite 9/11 etc they made a profit and were doing well. That Fianna Fail traitor Martin Cullen would not put the investment in where it was needed, instead he privatised it and ala Eircom the whole thing has now gone tits up only after one and a half weeks, berties Friends will make their profits while Ireland is reduced to one airline this is completely against the Irish Constitution

Article 45, section 2 pt iii. That, especially, the operation of free competition shall not be allowed so to develop as to result in the concentration of the ownership or control of essential commodities in a few individuals to the common detriment.

this shows the real colours of this government. That b*s*a*d of a Michael O'Leary, he will now come along and destroy something that was a boost to national moral throughout the bad years and was an example to all the nation that we would succeed. Fianna Fail are nothing but traitors of the lowest order and in may other countries, a firing squad would beckon. I am now on ten decades of rosary a day that they get kicked out of government.

BuffyBot

Rofl

Ruu_Old

That came out of nowhere. G'wan O'Leary.

DublinWriter

I really am confused over this.

Why is O'Leary making a play for Aer Lingus when the Government still have a 'golden-vote' controlling share interest?

Basically the Government can veto any inituative that O'Leary might try to implement if he was the boss at Aer Lingus.

I think he's either being incredibly stupid or clever here.

Stupid if he's off on a power-trip, as he'll never have full control over Aer Lingus, even if he became the majority share-holder.

Clever, if he suddenly pretends to have a hissy fit after his bid is rejected, goes and dumps his huge stake in Aer Lingus on the market in a couple of hours and causes Aer Lingus' share price to crash through the floor, possibly causing Aer Lingus to go into liquidation.

Personally, I think he's going to do the latter. The stake he has in Aer Lingus is small fries compared to Ryanair's total market cap (Ryanair are actually bigger than BA when it comes to market cap).

At the end of the day, O'Leary wants to humilate the government and smash Aer Lingus.

Taking over Aer Lingus would involve a huge headache for O'Leary in terms of the existing union structure, work practises and the inevitable protracted EU audit of the perceived monopoly that Ryanair will have.

If he'll take over, he'll asset strip. Sound familiar to anyone considering the Eircom floatation nightmare?

clk

Article 45, section 2 pt iii. That, especially, the operation of free competition shall not be allowed so to develop as to result in the concentration of the ownership or control of essential commodities in a few individuals to the common detriment.

you do realise that ryanair has not been to the common detriment but in fact has been to the common good as it forced the lowering of airfares across the industry!!!

DublinWriter

clk wrote:

you do realise that ryanair has not been to the common detriment but in fact has been to the common good as it forced the lowering of airfares across the industry!!!

That's until they become a privately owned monopoly instead of a publically owned one.

I'm sure O'Leary will give a sh*te about the common good once he gets his hands on Aer Lingus.

Ruu_Old

a story from RTE.ie today.

Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion said he is certain the company will remain an independent entity despite Ryanair's takeover attempt.

Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Mannion said the Ryanair bid was not entirely a surprise. He said there was always the possibility that some airline would make a move on Aer Lingus once it was floated.
This evening, shares in Aer Lingus closed up another €0.08 to €2.98 in Dublin, a gain of almost 3%. Ryanair closed up €0.13 to €8.80.

The Government is continuing to examine the strategic and policy implications arising from Ryanair's efforts to obtain a majority stake in Aer Lingus.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, yesterday ruled out the sale of the Government's stake in the airline, while the Aer Lingus board rejected the takeover bid and urged shareholders not to respond.
Mr Ahern said any proposal of this kind would require regulatory clearance and it remained to be clarified whether it was a matter for the relevant Irish authorities or for the European Commission.

Meanwhile, a London-based aviation expert has said union fears of a possible takeover are likely to be justified.
Lloyd Brown, of consultants Ernst and Young, said the Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary's record spoke for itself.

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, is consulting his advisers on the issue and is to set out the position more fully at an appropriate time.

gemwol

Mannion had to break off his holiday to deal with the crisis:) It must have been a few days after the Aer Lingus float that he left on holiday, an excellent time to leave the helm!! Not that it mattered, Mannion was oblivious to what was happening anyway. Meanwhile, back at RyanAir HQ, MOL was putting in 18 hour days working on a strategy for the takeover bid.

Ryan Air taking over Aer Lingus would be the best thing to happen in the aviation industry in Ireland and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.
The mid west region & Shannon in particular would be a big beneficiary. Ireland would become part of a central hub/go between for feeding traffic on to the Aer Lingus Trans Atlantic & Europe routes and vice versa.

RTE, IMPACT, Mannion and the government are scaremongering the public, personal grudges in most cases, it's a disgrace. While they all feel that they will impact the outcome of the proposed takeover they won't. Investment bankers determine the outcome in these cases.

It is not a time for the government to be patriotic in the falsehood that they are doing it to protect the "national interest". They sold something far more important without putting any safeguards in place to protect customers, the backbone infrastructure to the telecommunication industry in Ireland, which if they had put the protections in place, would have prevented 40,000 telephone and broadband customers being switched of without any notice by Eircom during the week.

The Ryan Air / Aer Lingus takeover has to go and will go ahead, it makes perfect sense, its right for the country/jobs, for both airlines and would put Ireland right in the centre of the aviation Industry between USA & Europe. The economic benefit to Ireland is too huge to miss out on. Get behind Ryan Air.

But of course their are alternatives, the Babcok & Brown's off the world or Aeroflop, the sorts that would please RTE, IMPACT, Mannion and the government. The anyone, but O Leary camp.