Originally Posted by
Lancelot37
EuroNews tonight publish this
The Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus has rejected a surprise takeover bid from the budget airline Ryanair. Aer Lingus' chairman John Sharman said:.
I love that quote, 'Aer Lingus has rejected a surprise takeover bid'. I have news for them. They can't reject it. It's up to the shareholders now. They are in it for the money and someone just gave them a 25% mark up on their investment. Aer Lingus can only advise rejection. They no longer have the power to do otherwise.
The unions are asking the government to buy back the shares. What a laugh. If it wasn't for the unions Aer Lingus delaying the flotation in the first place. The original price would have been higher and Aer Lingus would have been in a better positon by now. Remember Willie Walsh and his management team's proposal to buy out Aer Lingus. Suddenly that looks attractive.
MOL has stuck it to the Irish government and Aer Lingus in the biggest way possible. Whatever happens now FR owns a substantial part of Aer Lingus. Nothing will be same again.
There was one comment on TV which struck me. The unions were muttering about security of employment. Someone pointed out that EI shed 3000 jobs in the last few years. FR has only expanded.
It has to be a potential takeover was well flagged. Oddly enough BA was mentioned along with a few other European airlines. It didn't seem to occur to anyone that the most obvious buyer was the annoying man in the white building on the other side of the airport.
