Aer-Lingus tells its shareholders to ‘put on their safety belts’ for battle with Ryanair
Aer Lingus called on shareholders to resist budget carrier Ryanair’s €700 million takeover bid as the rival Irish airlines dig in for a corporate battle that looks likely to drag into next year.
Both airlines said they did not expect EU antitrust regulators to approve the 694 million euro ($849 million) takeover bid for the former state carrier in a decision due by Wednesday.
Instead they expect it to move to a longer Phase II process that can last up to 105 working days, which would push a resolution into next year.
While Ryanair promised to offer the EU “radical remedies” to address competition concerns, Aer Lingus said the bid was doomed to fail.
“Ryanair’s offer is not in the interests of shareholders, fundamentally undervalues the business and is likely once more to be prohibited by the European Commission,” Aer Lingus said in a statement to shareholders published on Friday.
“The board re-affirms its recommendation that shareholders should reject the offer,” it said.
Aer Lingus’ shares have gained 14 euro cent to 1.08 sinceRyanair announced its bid in June, but remain 22 cents short of the offer price, implying that many traders are yet to be convinced that the bid will be successful.
The European Commission, which acts as EU competition watchdog, is among the biggest impediments to a deal which was announced in June and is Ryanair’s third attempt to take over the former state carrier.
The EU executive blocked Ryanair’s 2007 attempted takeover of Aer Lingus, saying the combined group would monopolise or dominate 35 routes, leading to consumers paying more. It saidRyanair had not offered to give up enough airport slots to allay its concerns.
THIRD PARTY COMPETITION
Ryanair, which already owns 30 percent of Aer Lingus, dropped its second offer in 2009.
In its statement, Aer Lingus said the commission would likely reject the takeover bid, something it can only do after a Phase II probe.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told journalists in Madrid on Thursday he expected the commission to move to Phase II but said he would offer unspecified remedies to allay competition concerns.
Analysts expect him to try to convince rival airlines to commit to compete on the 44 routes where Ryanair and Aer Linguscurrently have no third-party competition.
Ryanair has already held talks with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic about possibly opening routes to compete with a combined Irish airline, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.
Virgin has spoken to both Ryanair and Aer Lingus recently about airport slots, a second source said. Ryanair, Virgin and British Airways all declined to comment.
But to allay competition concerns, Ryanair will have to go beyond the London hubs of British Airways and Virgin, and show there will be sustainable competition on the 50 routes they compete on across Europe.
“If they could get British Airways or Virgin on board, that would be one tick in the box, but they will need much more than that. The trick is proving competition across the network,” said Merrion Capital analyst Gerard Moore.
Moore said Ryanair has a “fighting chance” of securing approval, but said reversing the European Commission’s decision to reject an earlier bid would be difficult. “It’s tough, but not impossible,” he said.
Irish households recycling rises by 10% on 2011
Irish households are recycling almost 10% more waste than 2011, hitting 208,000 tonnes within the last year.
In terms of an environmental impact, this equates to taking 250,000 cars of Irish roads for a year.
But it appears that householders are leading the way as packaging recycling within the home has risen by a significant 9.7pc in 2011.
Dr Andrew Hetherington, CEO of industry-funded scheme Repak, said recycling saves valuable resources and reduces our carbon footprint.
And Repak are confident that packaging recovery and recycling rates for 2011, which were up 4pc on 2010, will be ahead of the 74pc recovery rate and 66pc recycling reported by the EPA in 2010.
Current EU Eurostat figures rank Ireland seventh amongst the 27 EU member states in packaging recycling rates.
Ireland’s commercial premises vacancy rate stands at 11%
The vacancy rate in the country’s commercial premises stands at around 11%, new figures show.
Some 23,834 commercial units were recorded as vacant in June 2012 from the total stock of 226,622 nationally.
The figures are compiled by GeoDirectory, which was jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland to manage a countrywide data base of buildings.
Eight counties – Carlow, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon – recorded vacancy rates above the national average of 11%.
Both Leitrim and Sligo recorded the highest commercial vacancy rate of 14%, with 268 vacant units identified in Leitrim, which has a total of commercial 1,929 premises. Sligo had 517 vacant units out of a total stock of 3,648.
By contrast, Kerry has the lowest commercial vacancy in the country with 7%, or 602, of units vacant.
GeoDirectory chief executive Dara Keogh said that the vacancy rate of 11% means that nine out of 10 commercial properties across the country are occupied.
”This positive trend is supported by he 14 countries which are below the national vacancy rate of 11%,” he added.
Determined turf-cutters return to their Clonmoylan bog in Galway
South Galway turf cutters this week defied warnings from gardaí and returned to cutting turf on Clonmoylan Bog, near Woodford.
The move comes almost two months to the day that the turf-cutters became embroiled in a tense stand-off, during which a turf cutter was hospitalised and a turf-cutting machine was damaged by fire.
The Clonmoylan Bog is one of 52 Irish raised peat bogs that have been designated Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) under the EU Habitats Directive. However, the turf cutters have vowed not to cease the activity, which they claim is their right as holders of turbary rights on these bogs.
Speaking to the Galway Independent on Tuesday, spokesperson for the Barroughter and Clonmoylan Bog Action Group Dermot Moran said that the turf cutters had returned to the bog and planned to cut for a further two or three days.
“People have come with machinery, and we’ve been cutting since this morning and we will continue to cut for the next day or two, because there was people without any turf, that had no turf cut even at this late stage, so even with the bad weather and all, we decided that we’d cut,” said Mr Moran.
Members of the Bog Action Group recently held talks in Portumna with Ireland North and West MEP Marian Harkin, where they raised a number of their concerns regarding the designation of raised peat bogs as SACs.
“She was listening to us, and we pointed out a lot of things that she didn’t seem to know,” said Mr Moran.
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