Both Tony O'Reilly's Valentia consortium and Denis O'Brien's eIsland group have confirmed that they have made bids.
It is expected Valentia will match or beat the eIsland cash offer of 1.24 euro, but eIsland may also increase its offer. A spokesperson for KKR had no comment to make on its interest in Eircom.
Dermot Desmond has not submitted a bid and Blackstone, the other US company who have been talking to eircom, have not made a bid - apparently they considered the price too rich.
Shares in Eircom are 2 cents lower today at 1.28 euros.
Meanwhile, the ESOT has made clear that they are still solidly behind the Valentia bid. Their backing is underpinned by the 'comfort' they have been given about how the Valentia consortium will run the company if they get control.
The eircom board is expected to meet sometime between 6pm and 8pm on Thursday to consider the bids after their advisors have made evaluations.
The identity of the secret equity backer for Denis O'Brien's eIsland, who up to this had been referred to as the 'American', was revealed this morning. According to the 'Business and Finance' magazine, eIsland's main equity backer is the Boston-based Spectrum Equity Investors.
According to the magazine, Spectrum manages four pools of private equity representing over $3 billion in capital and invests across all stages of a target firm's development. It invests exclusively in the communications sector and has active investments in the US and UK.
