ISEQ in positive territory

The ISEQ index of Irish shares made up for some of yesterday's losses, rising 149.34 points to 7510.71, by the end of day's trading.

Shares in eircom rose 5c to €2.20 following the announcement that Australian finance house Babcock and Brown has joined forces with the eircom Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) to make a long-anticipated €2.4bn offer for eircom.

Babcock and Brown incorporated a new company - BCMIH - to implement the eircom offer. BCMIH is funded by Babcock & Brown, some of its affiliates and ESOT.

Once the takeover is completed, Babcock and Brown will hold 65% of eircom, with 35% in ESOT hands.

The two currently hold about 50.2% of shares between them.

Elsewhere Tullow Oil rose 42c to €5.19, over 8% following their announcement that its southern North Sea Schooner-10 production well commenced production on May 16 at a stabilised rate of 22 mmscfd.

Commenting today, Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow said: "Over the last 12 months we have…made a total of four exploration discoveries and completed Tullow’s first operated offshore development.

"Our increasing control over our operations, allied to the ongoing strength and seasonality of UK Gas pricing, allows Tullow to optimise returns from assets such as Horne and Wren by managing production to meet periods of peak demand and pricing."

The financial heavyweights all ended the day in the black.

AIB surged 80c to €18.30, Anglo Irish Bank rose 30c to €12.15, Bank of Ireland rose 43c to €14.25 and Irish Life and Permanent rose 40c to €18.80.