Eircom receives takeover proposal

Babcock & Brown Capital Limited today confirmed that BCM, in conjunction with the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT), has lodged a joint proposal with the Board of eircom plc. The proposal may or may not result in a joint offer for eircom.

The proposal involves a joint offer by BCM and the ESOT for eircom at an offer price of €2.20 per eircom share plus the payment by eircom of a 5.2 cent per share dividend.

BCM and its associates currently hold 308,999,053 ordinary shares in eircom representing 28.8% of the issued capital. The ESOT currently holds 21.4% of eircom, so together the joint bidders hold in excess of 50% of eircom.

Mr Robert Topfer, Executive Director of BCM, said, “We look forward to the eircom Board’s response and are pleased that the ESOT have joined us in our approach. We have the support of a first class consortium of banks and anticipate a smooth transaction.

“We look forward to the opportunity to address all stakeholders on the merits of our proposal, once we have received a definitive response from the Board.”