The businessman, Denis O'Brien, has confirmed that he is leading a consortium which has offered €2.25bn in cash for Eircom's fixed line business. That is an increase on today's earlier offer of €2.2bn. The consortium is called eIsland; it includes the former secretary of the Taoiseach's Department, Padraig O'hUiginn, and Lucy Gaffney, the head of ESAT's residential phone business. Mr O'Brien said that this was his final offer.
Earlier today, Eircom confirmed it had received what it called an "indicative proposal" from the Denis O'Brien-led consortium to buy the landline business of the former state company. Eircom said that the proposal was not detailed enough for the board to give it proper consideration and it would be seeking more details. It was also thought that the Eircom board would reject the O'Brien offer of €2.2bn, or one euro per share, as too low. Analysts had also said that an offer of €2.2bn undervalued the fixed line unit.
Eircom is already in talks with UK company, Vodafone, about the sale of its mobile operation, Eircell. Eircom employees own almost 15% of the company's shares. Speaking on RTÉ radio, Con Scanlan of the Communications Workers' Union said that they would be willing to work with Mr O'Brien.
