A group of Australian businessmen who oversaw the purchase of a majority stake in Eircom for €2.4bn in 2006 has approached the company offering to buy it for €95m.
The businessmen would also assume €3.8bn worth of Eircom debt, but compulsory redundancies at Eircom are part of its proposals.
Babcock and Brown Capital (BCM), which owns Eircom, is regarding the approach as hostile and has told staff it would be damaging to the company's interests and its future.
Eircom's main union, the Communications Workers Union, is also against the move.
A majority stake in Eircom was sold in 2006 to BCM.
The deal was negotiated by executives working for Australia's Babcock & Brown.
BCM, whose main asset is Eircom, was later listed on the stock market attracting a large number of investors.
Now former Babcock and Eircom executives, led by Rob Topfer, have approached BCM.
If the bid is successful it would mean a sixth change of ownership for Eircom in recent years.
Local management under acting chief executive Cathal Magee have poured scorn on the offer, accusing Mr Topfer and his colleagues of looking to use Eircom to generate cash for themselves while offering no investment.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, CWU General Secretary Steve Fitzpatrick described the offer as 'quite strange', as it came from the management team that had been involved in running the company in recent years.
He said they had not done so successfully, as the company was loaded with debt and Ireland had a 'third world' telecoms infrastructure.
Mr Fitzpatrick said unions and local management appeared to be united in opposition to the plan, but the offer had to be taken seriously.
