A legal action brought by pharmaceutical firm Elan aimed at stopping Royalty Pharma from distributing a statement to Elan’s shareholders is no longer proceeding, the High Court heard yesterday.

Aer Lingus has launched a High Court challenge against a ruling by the Irish Takeover Panel that could allow Ryanair to make another bid for the national carrier by August of this year.

Elan shareholders have unanimously voted in favour of the company’s share buyback plan, which will see nearly a third of the proceeds of its sale of multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri returned to investors.

Royalty Pharma, the US investment management firm interested in buying Irish biotechnology company Elan, has been set a deadline of May 10 by the Irish Takeover Panel to either table a firm offer for the company or walk away from the process for at least 12 months.

Denis O’Brien’s 29.9% holding in Independent News and Media does not constitute a controlling stake, according to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).

DIRECTORS at the Irish Takeover Panel saw their pay jump 22% in the year to the end of June as they seek more powers from the Government.

RYANAIR, which has failed twice to take over its rival, Aer Lingus, last night accused it of issuing incorrect information to the market last December in the heat of the takeover battle.

THE Irish Takeover Panel (ITP) is expected to name a date within the next two weeks as the new deadline by which the Moonduster consortium must make a formal bid for ferry and freight services business, Irish Continental Group (ICG).

THE independent directors of Irish Continental Group (ICG), dealing with the proposed sale of the ferry and freight services business, are to — as anticipated — request the Irish Takeover Panel (ITP) to impose a deadline by which the Moonduster consortium must make a formal bid for the group.

RYANAIR’S High Court challenge over an alleged “gagging” order on a TV debate about the buyout of Aer Lingus was withdrawn yesterday after the Government’s rejection of its takeover offer.

AER Lingus will not be appealing a decision by the Irish Takeover Panel to cancel a hotly anticipated head-to-head debate between its chief executive and Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary.

Aer Lingus management is facing a bitter boardroom row over a controversial €2.8m pay-off for its chief executive if the airline is sold, it was revealed tonight.

FORMER Attorney General Rory Brady SC has been appointed chairman of the Irish Takeover Panel.

THE Irish Takeover Panel has refused a request by the independent directors of car ferries group IFG to instruct Moonduster to submit a bid by October 31.

A SOLUTION to the ongoing battle for control of Irish Ferries operator Irish Continental Group (ICG) has been proposed by bidders Moonduster.

The Irish Takeover Panel has reportedly issued a two-week deadline for a formal bid for Irish Ferries’ parent company, Irish Continental Group (ICG) to be made by the interested Doyle Shipping Group/One 51 consortium.

The Doyle Group and One Fifty One Capital Limited, a subsidiary of One Fifty One plc, have announced that they are negotiating to buy ferries group Irish Continental.

AER Lingus has been ordered to publish details of its cost-cutting plan next week.

RYANAIR is today expected to announce it will extend the deadline for acceptance of its €2.80 per share offer for Aer Lingus until after November 22, the day the Employee Share Option Trust (ESOT) ballot is due to be completed.

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

DCC have appointed two new non-executive directors.

THE number of bidders circling the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group increased yesterday with builder Sean Dunne and the Reubens brothers indicating separate bids for the company.

Jurys Doyle has stopped the due diligence being carried out by Precinct after the announcement that AIB has withdrawn funding for the takeover bid.

PRECINCT’S €1.1 billion plus bid for the Jurys Doyle Group of hotels was dealt a double blow last night.

David Clerkin

The ISEQ index closed up 9.26 points at 6677.7 today.

Ian Guider

MILLIONAIRE property developer Derek Quinlan is reportedly interested in buying the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.

THE Friday deadline for acceptance of the Labour Relations Commission redundancy package put to Waterford Crystal workers is unlikely to be met.

THE cloister-type existence of the ordinary shareholder, who has to depend on divine inspiration rather than raw data for investment insights, manifested itself again this week in the Arcon affair.

The Irish Takeover Panel has extended the deadline for the takeover of building materials and DIY group Heiton by larger rival Grafton.

The ISEQ has closed the week on a slightly negative note, slipping back 15.04 to finish the day at 6,174.49.

THE planned takeover of British chinaware manufacturer Royal Doulton by Waterford Wedgwood came a step closer yesterday after shareholders in the troubled luxury goods group gave the go-ahead to a €100 million rights issue to finance the deal.

The Irish Takeover Panel has extended the deadline for Grafton to decide on whether to take over Heiton to Friday August 13.

THE Gresham Hotels takeover saga finally reached its endgame yesterday as the company's major shareholder moved to accept an improved offer that valued the group at €117 million.

THE Irish Takeover Panel plans to investigate further whether there are any links between two of Gresham Hotel Group’s largest shareholders.

THREE Irish businessmen yesterday launched a €113m takeover bid for the Gresham Hotel group. The long-threatened takeover bid for the Gresham Hotel Group finally came yesterday afternoon.

The Iseq index closed up 20.74 points on Monday to close at 5229.25.

THE initial agreement reached between the Tony O'Reilly led Valentia consortium and Eircom employees during the bidding battle for Eircom in June 2001 was rejected by the Irish Takeover Panel.

Consortium removes pre-condition on Gresham bid

THE takeover of Gresham Hotels edged closer yesterday after it emerged that the consortium that made the approach have dropped the precondition that 80% of shareholders accept the offer before a formal approach.

The ISEQ was flat this evening at 5,278, slightly dipping into negative territory, down 0.65 points.

The Irish Takeover Panel said an unnamed consortium interested in buying Gresham Hotels has requested an extension of the deadline for making a bid for the hotel group until January 30.

The consortium at the centre of the Gresham Hotel bid must decide its next move by 5pm on Friday, January 16.