This article is from page 6 of the 2006-10-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
AER LINGUS has strongly urged its shareholders to spurn the Ryanair’s take-over offer for the airline.
In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange less than 24 hours after the publication of the offer document by Ryanair, John Sharman, Chairman of Aer Lingus said the offer from Ryanair was “without merit”.
Workers at Aer Lingus Shannon – who are among the staff whose jobs are under threat should Ryanair take over the airline – are today anxiously awaiting the shareholders’ answer to the Ryanair offer.
The statement said that Aer Lingus would “formally respond in detail when it issues its response setting out the views of the participating directors on the offer within the next 14 days”.
But the offer may well run into trouble in trying to secure the shares held under the Aer Lingus Employee Share Option Scheme Trustee Ltd (ESOP), despite offering €2.80 per share when the shares were floated at €2.20.
Ryanair’s claim that the average payment to staff would be €60,000 is being challenged by Aer Lingus, who say that €31,000 would be a more realistic figure.
Meanwhile, ESOP said that it has asked its advisers to review Ryanair’s offer document.
The ESOP said it would make no further comment on the offer document until after it had time to consider the views of its advisers.
In its takeover offer yesterday, Ryanair said it was offering €500m to the Government for its shareholding and a total of €220m to members of the airline’s employee trust.