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Eircom rejects takeover offer
2015-05-20 09:17:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Eircom informed the Irish Stock Exchange that it received a non-binding expression of interest from an unnamed company in the first quarter, but rejected the advance because the offer of up to EUR 3.3 billion undervalued the business. The company wrote, "While the bidder was very credible, the board believed that, with the business reaching an inflection point, the indicated price range undervalued the group". After passing this inflection point, Eircom expects to return to growth this quarter. The Irish Times speculates that the interested party was US investment house Anchorage Capital, which held an around 8 percent stake until recently, but according to several sources, bought another 25 percent from Blackstone asset manager GSO in the last few days. GSO has kept around 5 percent of Eircom. The Irish operator would not comment on whether Anchorage was the bidder, but did confirm that it was now its biggest shareholder. Eircom pulled out of a planned IPO last September due to unfavourable market conditions. It was reported at the time that Eircom may have preferred to sell to a single buyer.
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Category:Telecommunications