Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher
Ireland’s Eircom waits for takeover bids
19 April 2012
Irish high court puts Eircom under creditor protection as Morgan Stanley is appointed to look for a buyer
Read more:
Eircom
Morgan Stanley
Ireland
creditor protection
ST Telemedia
Ireland’s high court has put Eircom and its two subsidiaries, ITI and mobile operator Meteor, under the republic’s version of creditor protection, by appointing an accountant as examiner.
Meanwhile Morgan Stanley has been appointed to deal with parties looking to acquire the companies as a whole. The interim examiner has set a deadline of April 23 for non-binding offers and May 7 for binding ones, but no formal expressions of interest have yet been received.
The court confirmed that Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton will be the examiner, looking after restructuring for the debt-laden company. The move gives the company up to 100 days to restructure.
An independent accountant as well as the interim examiner told the court the companies had reasonable chances of surviving as a going concern.
Eircom’s total debts are estimated at around €3 billion. The company was owned by an Australian bank, and was later taken over by Singapore Technologies Telemedia. GTB
More from GTB
Eircom seeks court protection from creditors 30 Mar 2012
Eircom moves on broadband despite crisis 13 Mar 2012
Eircom lenders reject restructure proposal 19 Dec 2011
Digicel 'no longer interested' in Eircom 17 Nov 2011
Eircom shareholders back €140m STT bid 17 Dec 2009