Babcock & Brown Capital now holds 24.5% or just over 263 million shares in Eircom, the Australian investment company said in a letter to the phone group published this evening.
B&B, which is considering buying Eircom, last week became the company's biggest shareholder. At that point it held 253.4 million shares or just over 23%. If B&B increases its stake above 29.9%, that would trigger a mandatory offer for the company.
Eircom said last month it had received an approach from B&B that may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.
The approach by the Australian fund was the second to the former state monopoly in four months and came days after Eircom reported weaker-than-expected earnings figures.
In November, Swiss phone group Swisscom said it was in talks to buy Eircom, but those plans were blocked by the Swiss government.
Swisscom had reportedly been prepared to pay between €2.40 and €2.50 a share for the company but Babcock & Brown said last week that, at that point, it had acquired its holding at an average price of €2.02 a share up to a maximum of €2.20.
Eircom shares closed a cent higher at €2.21 in Dublin this evening.
