The Board of Eircom met for four hours today to consider bids for the company's fixed line asset. RTÉ News understands that the Board took no firm decision at the meeting and is to have further discussions with the various interested parties. A deadline for opening offers passed yesterday evening. So far only two groups have indicated a firm interest in buying Eircom.
They are the e-Island consortium, led by Denis O'Brien, and the Valentia group, chaired by Tony O'Reilly. It is still unclear whether or not Dermot Desmond has put in a bid for the company. There is also uncertainty about the intentions of the US buy-out group, KKR.
Eircom earlier said that it was making no public comment on the bids and that any comment would come by way of a stock exchange announcement at the appropriate time. RTÉ News understands that the initial process could take many weeks.
