If the deal is to be approved and if I was in EIN management I would immediately mount a take over bid for the loss making Flybe straight away. A market capitilisation of just 36 or so million is small change to Aer Lingus. Throw a 30% margain on top of this and it would make it attractive to Flybe shareholders who without it face a very uncertain future. This would throw an Flybe/Ryanair deal out the window. I would also make it clear that it would be the end of Flybe management in its current form. This deal for Flybe in my opinion one way or another could ultimately sink the company. If the bid is succesful it may sink it very quickly or if not it will almost certainly be the death of the company within a few years. The only airline in my opinion that would merit a deal such as the one proposed to compete would have been Easyjet. Had this been the case it would be approved at European level. They would have posed an enormous threat to Ryanair and as such they picked the vulnerable loss making regional airline instead knowing that when they sneeze in a couple of years time they will annihilate them for good.
An approval like this as proposed in it's current format would be nothing short of collusion of the highest order allowing one company to effectively pay another through a combination of cash and assests to collude in taking out it's main opposition. Not it's own cash it has to be said either. Not only should it not be allowed, in my opinion it should not even be allowed as a proposition in the first place. With all the rules and regulations at corporate level these days I'm surprised it's even legal to make such a proposition. The sooner the EU dismiss this the better and let Aer Lingus and Ryanair both continue to compete for the better of the consumer. This proposed takeover is nothing short of establising an ultimate monopoly of unprecedented levels in a very short time.
Last edited by Lord Lardy; 6th Feb 2013 at 12:01.