Smart Telecom seeks Examinership from High Court on Monday August 31st.

Oracle

Well it looks like the beginning of the end for Smart. From the Irish Times:

Smart Telecom owners seek Examinership approval
CIARÁN HANCOCK and SIMON CARSWELL
THE OWNERS of Smart Telecom are expected to seek the approval of the High Court on Monday to enter examinership, a move that would protect the debt-laden group from its creditors for up to 100 days. It is understood the court be asked to appoint John McStay of McStay Luby examiner to the telecom company. Smart is controlled by Cavan-based businessman and Kingspan shareholder Brendan Murtagh and his fellow investor Tom Jones. In recent months Smart has relied on funding provided by bondholders, who are believed to have pumped several million euro into the company this year to help it continue trading.

Smart Telecom Customer Forum thread: http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=3415

ElNino

Inevitable really but a shame none the less. They were probably the most progressive Irish ISP.

koHd

Sad situation.

Smart are one of the best broadband providers in this country.

eman66

Should we jump ship now, residential and business users?

kaizersoze

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055665792

koHd

kaizersoze wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055665792

Someone merge 'em up?

Wcool

Maybe they would had a chance, if the Eircom reseller price would have come down earlier (€8.41 to .77e I read on Smart's site). Now it looks too late.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

watty

Also here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=61849537&postcount=9

It doesn't mean anything yet.

If they "enter examinership" they have 100days to find a buyer (unlikely) or more investment/loans (extremely unlikely).

If they don't "enter examinership" then in a week or so it could be closed. Bond repayments (I think) of about 38M (€ or $?) of the €52M to €60M they owe are due already.

Any change in LLU is too little and 5 years too late. That LLU reduction is only one part of the eircom related costs.

jor el

koHd wrote: »

Someone merge 'em up?

Different forum.

Iolar wrote: »

What does all this mean for Smart Telecom customers?

Nothing yet, because nothing has happened. The article was in Saturday's paper, and speculated that Smart may apply for examinership today, but I haven't seen any report that this has actually happened yet. Even if it does, it doesn't mean the company will fold. It may be bought up, or if it's liquidated, the customer base could be picked up by another teleco.

In short, don't do anything yet, unless you've found a better deal.

Oracle

Iolar wrote: »

What does all this mean for Smart Telecom customers?

We're bunched! and of course we're left completely in the dark by Smart, as per usual. We're left to find out whats happening via the newspapers and the internet, like everyone else.
Don't mind us Smart we're only the customers, damned nuisance! :rolleyes:

hightower1

Oracle wrote: »

We're bunched! and of course we're left completely in the dark by Smart, as per usual. We're left to find out whats happening via the newspapers and the internet, like everyone else.
Don't mind us Smart we're only the customers, damned nuisance! :rolleyes:

Your a customer not a shareholder, that doesnt entitle you to hear about every bit of business teh company has positive or negeative.

mk6705

As a business Smart Telecom has never appeared "smart" to me. The first time they screwed up I wasn't that surprised. They spent way too much on advertising (attempting to challenge Eircom I suspect) and they didn't take a realistic view of how many customers they could actually get. And people will probably criticise me for this, but they were never realistic and destined to fail.

Oracle

hightower1 wrote: »

Your a customer not a shareholder, that doesnt entitle you to hear about every bit of business teh company has positive or negeative.

This is hardly a "bit of business". Customers have a right to know if their phone line is going to be cut off (as happened in 2006), or their broadband is going to be disrupted, discontinued or transfered to another operator. Preferably in advance of it happening.

Otherwise when the news breaks customers will, understandably, be concerned or may even panic, about the uncertain situation. It's not rocket science, just good customer care, communication and courtesy. All of which seem to be, sadly, lacking in Smart.

jor el

Oracle wrote: »

This is hardly a "bit of business". Customers have a right to know if their phone line is going to be cut off (as happened in 2006), or their broadband is going to be disrupted, discontinued or transfered to another operator. Preferably in advance of it happening.

They're not going to make an announcement about a high court application for examinership to the customers, before they actually make the application. Give them a chance to apply, and see what the court says, before they can tell anyone. The articles linked are speculative, with no confirmation from Smart, so as of yet, there's nothing to announce.

aidan_walsh

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0831/smarttelecom.html

An interim examiner has been appointed by the High Court to Smart Telecom.

...

The High Court heard it has a reasonable prospect of survival with two potential investors waiting in the wings.

jor el

aidan_walsh wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0831/smarttelecom.html

Just heard that on the news at 6. Wonder who the two potential investors are? O2 were looking at them previously. Up to €100million debts though, not a great prospect.

stephenc_ie

There's a press release up on
http://www.smarttelecom.ie/media/09-08-31/Smart_Telecom_to_enter_Examinership.aspx

and a forum post too:
http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=3421

Sponge Bob

Iolar wrote: »

What does all this mean for Smart Telecom customers?

It means nothing at all actually .

Smart makes a profit day to day but not enough to pay off this large debt overhang it has ( the interest is €4m a year minimum possibly as much as €10m ) and cannot refinance this debt as things are.

The examiner will get a load of the debt written off now. Just watch .

ZeRoY

stephenc_ie wrote: »

There's a press release up on
http://www.smarttelecom.ie/media/09-08-31/Smart_Telecom_to_enter_Examinership.aspx

and a forum post too:
http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=3421

Working LINK HERE

Oracle

It's 2 weeks since Smart went into examinership, has anyone heard about whats going on?

Jev/N

Oracle wrote: »

It's 2 weeks since Smart went into examinership, has anyone heard about whats going on?

Relax.... the process can take up to and above 70 days, but you can be safe in the knowledge that they're not in receivership or liquidation

Oracle

I wouldn't be so sure that they won't end up in receivership or liquidation. Although I'm not worried just looking for information. Someone in Smart, or the other companies who are reportedly interested, must know whats going on.

Lets see there's a whole raft of companies whose names were put around as being interested in Smart ....

1) O2 Ireland were reportedly in "advanced discussions" to buy Smart, in April last year, with a "cash offer" on the table. Additionally Carphone Warehouse, BT and 3 Ireland had been tipped as rival bidders to O2.
2) Complete Telecom, were reported to be buying Smart in July this year.
3) Planet 21, were jointly buying Smart with Complete Telecom
4) Magnet, recently mentioned as one of two interested parties, in connection with the examinership
5) Digiweb, also recently mentioned as one of two interested parties, in connection with the examinership
6) Someone mentioned Vodafone, but I haven't read any reports confirming this.

Have I left any Irish Telecom Operator (other than Eircom and Meteor) out? Are these rumours real, or the product of a good PR agency?

The fact is no sale has occurred. In the meantime the company has gone into examinership. It's been 2 weeks since Smart entered the examinership and there's been no update or new developments. In this case, no news is not good news, all this says to me is nobody wants Smart.

bk

Oracle wrote: »

The fact is no sale has occurred. In the meantime the company has gone into examinership. It's been 2 weeks since Smart entered the examinership and there's been no update or new developments. In this case, no news is not good news, all this says to me is nobody wants Smart.

Not necessarily true, under examinership, I believe there are very tight rules about what you can say publicly. You basically won't hear anything until they come out of examinership.

BTW you left Sky off your list of potential buyers. In the UK, Sky do broadband over LLU ADSL2+ bundled with their sat products. A possibility but unlikely.

hightower1

Jev/N wrote: »

Relax.... the process can take up to and above 70 days, but you can be safe in the knowledge that they're not in receivership or liquidation

Well its certainly not a great sign really.

Jev/N

hightower1 wrote: »

Well its certainly not a great sign really.

bk is right in that there will be little or no information out until the end of the examinership. Remember the examiner has no duty to you whatsoever, only primarily to the company and also to the creditors.

When the examiner has put together the scheme of arrangement at the end of the period, then you'll know what the story is. Until then, the company is under court protection so please relax and stop worrying that after 2 weeks you haven't heard anything

hightower1

Jev/N wrote: »

bk is right in that there will be little or no information out until the end of the examinership. Remember the examiner has no duty to you whatsoever, only primarily to the company and also to the creditors.

When the examiner has put together the scheme of arrangement at the end of the period, then you'll know what the story is. Until then, the company is under court protection so please relax and stop worrying that after 2 weeks you haven't heard anything

Oh I am not worried, I'm not even with them but by the definition of examinership they mustn't be too healthy at all....

"Examinership is a process whereby the protection of the Courts is obtained to assist the survival of an Irish limited company."

Jev/N

hightower1 wrote: »

"Examinership is a process whereby the protection of the Courts is obtained to assist the survival of an Irish limited company."

But to even be granted examinership, the company must prove to the court it has "a reasonable prospect of survival"

Chartbusters went through examinership and seem to be fine for the most part, except for closing loss making stores which was part of the scheme of arrangement

O'Briens are in examinership and are still operating as usual also

hightower1

Jev/N wrote: »

But to even be granted examinership, the company must prove to the court it has "a reasonable prospect of survival"

But for a company to even apply for it means they need assistance to survive .... not a healthy company if they need to do this.

Jev/N

hightower1 wrote: »

But for a company to even apply for it means they need assistance to survive .... not a healthy company if they need to do this.

Sure, definitely. But it doesn't mean they're absolutely doomed - most examinerships are very successful

radiospan

Sorry to bump this again.

I'm just after getting an eircom line installed, and Smart seemed to be the best broadband option for me. (5MB no cap)

Would I be mad signing up with them now?

Or can someone suggest an option for less than 45-50 euro where I don't need to worry about a download cap?

jor el

Smart have a 170GB cap now, if that's of any concern to you. You wouldn't be mad to sign up, as they'll probably be bought out soon, rather than go under. If they do get bought, there may well be other changes, including a change to the cap, depending on who buys them. That would be a concern, as you may find your 170GB cap becomes 30GB.

radiospan

Caps > 80GB or so are basically no cap for me, so yeah I think I'll go for Smart.

I think Magnet are missing out on a bit of business by not offering a similar deal to Smart's 5MB ~40 euro package.