AER LINGUS and Ryanair have both been forced by the Irish Takeover Panel to clarify statements they made in relation to the increasingly bitter takeover battle between the airlines.
Ryanair issued a statement clarifying comments made by chief executive Michael O’Leary at a press conference in Dublin yesterday morning, where he indicated to journalists that his airline would not be prepared to pay €2 or more a share for Aer Lingus.
Ryanair bid €1.40 a share for Aer Lingus when it launched its takeover bid on December 1st.
In its statement, Ryanair said Mr O’Leary had stated: “While no decision has been made in relation to any change in the terms of our merger offer, we have no intention of increasing our offer to a price of €2 or above. We are not stupid people and will not pay stupid prices.”
Mr O’Leary also urged the Government to make its intentions on Ryanair’s €748 million bid for Aer Lingus clear by January 29th, the latest time that Ryanair can modify the terms of its bid in advance of its February 13th deadline for acceptances of its offer by Aer Lingus.
“Ryanair advisers are seeking an early meeting with the Minister for Transport’s advisers IBI to emphasise that a decision must be made on Ryanair’s offer within the next three weeks,” Mr O’Leary told the press briefing.
In its statement, Ryanair said it could not now increase its offer to €2 or above for each Aer Lingus share unless it received the consent of the Takeover Panel. This followed communication from the takeover watchdog.
Mr O’Leary is at loggerheads with the Takeover Panel, which intervened this week to block him from participating in a head-to-head television debate on RTÉ with Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion.
He has challenged that decision in the High Court and the matter is due to be heard on Monday.
Aer Lingus meanwhile was forced to clarify statements made in December by corporate affairs director Enda Corneille.
Mr Corneille was quoted at the time as saying that Ryanair’s bid “drastically undervalues Aer Lingus and is not capable of completion”.
In its clarification, the airline said: “Aer Lingus would like to clarify that the comment ‘not capable of completion’ is an expression of opinion by Mr Corneille and should have been qualified by reference to the Ryanair offer being unlikely to be capable of completion.”
It also clarified a profit statement made by Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington on December 18th to the Oireachtas transport committee.
Mr Barrington told the committee that Aer Lingus had made more than €200 million in profits since its IPO.
“Aer Lingus has reported a cumulative total of €209 million of profit since 2006,” the airline said yesterday in its clarification.
A number of references included in its defence document were also clarified by Aer Lingus.
In its statement yesterday, Aer Lingus reiterated its view that Ryanair’s bid would not succeed. “Aer Lingus continues to believe that the offer is diversionary and fatally flawed,” it said.
Mr Barrington has written to Ryanair chairman David Bonderman requesting that he provide all Aer Lingus shareholders with the full details of the remedies that Mr O’Leary has discussed with the European Commission or those remedies that it believes will enable it to secure regulatory approval from the EU.
Aer Lingus also issued a release yesterday detailing the other business interests of Laurence Crowley, who was appointed as a non-executive director last week.
Mr Crowley’s interests include being chairman of Realex Payments, a company that handles all of Aer Lingus’s payments processing.
The Irish Times revealed yesterday that Mr O’Leary wrote to Mr Barrington earlier this week to complain that this information had not been disclosed to the stock market.
