Ryanair criticised over its €60,000 share sale figures

THE Irish Takeover Panel has admonished Ryanair for releasing insufficiently detailed information in its bid for Aer Lingus.

In a rare public statement the panel criticised Ryanair for saying that Aer Lingus employees could net €60,000 each if they accept the budget airline’s offer.

The panel took issue with a statement released by Ryanair on October 20 when the airline published part of its offer documents for Aer Lingus.

Ryanair said Aer Lingus employees “will realise over €220m from the sale of their Aer Lingus shares. This represents an average of over €60,000 for each employee”.

The Irish Takeover Panel said the Ryanair must abide by a rule which requires that “every document or statement issued in connection with an offer by the offeror or the offeree meets the same standards of accuracy, completeness and fair presentation as would be required of a prospectus”.

“Furthermore, the rule requires that every document and statement shall clearly state the source for any fact which is material to any argument contained in it, including sufficient detail to enable the significance of the fact to be assessed.”

It said while some of the assumptions underpinning the figures in the statement are set out in the announcement, the panel decided that “sufficient detail on the assumptions underpinning the figures in the statement was not disclosed”.

It concluded that the Aer Lingus shareholders were provided with insufficient detail to enable them to assess the significance of this statement.

The Aer Lingus Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) is balloting members on whether to accept the €2.80 per share offer.

It has not made a recommendation either way but says that current members of the ESOT will receive €38,864 or just under €14,000 for former staff.

Ryanair had not comment to make on the panel statement as its management team were on an international roadshow for investors to highlight its interim financial results.

Aer Lingus shareholders have until Monday to accept the Ryanair offer. Ryanair has conceded that its bid is likely to fail unless the ESOT votes for the offer.