Irish Continental Group shareholders have rejected a €24 a share offer for the ferry operator by management after two other major investors bought shares in recent days above the bid price.
A statement to the Irish stock exchange from the Independent directors of ICG said this evening the revised Aella scheme, led by CEO Eamonn Rothwell, has lapsed and Aella cannot make another offer for a year, without consent from the Irish Takeover panel.
'Accordingly, the revised Aella Scheme has not been approved by ICG Shareholders..', the statement said.
The Independent directors said they will now engage with the other bidding consortium, Moonduster, so as to consider its revised offer, and will consider recommending it.
'Provided the independent directors are satisfied that it is in the best interests of shareholders to do so the independent directors will also consider recommending the revised moonduster scheme', the statement said.
Irish Continental (ICG) has been the subject of a takeover battle which has lasted nearly seven months and cost the company millions of euros.
ICG had hoped to end months of bids and counter bids for the firm.
Its independent directors repeated before the vote a recommendation to shareholders to accept an offer from Aella.
Aella's bid of €24 a share valued the company at €611.8m.
But Moonduster - which comprises of investor One51 and shipping company Doyle Group - raised its stake in recent days, paying more than Aella's offer price.
Separately, property developer Liam Carroll has been building up his stake in recent weeks and has also paid above Aella's offer price.
Moonduster holds over 24%, while Aella owns or controls about 21%. Carroll's holdings amount to 23.2%.
Moonduster said today before the vote it remained 'committed to progressing its objective to acquire ICG' and would be willing to make a proposal to shareholders 'where there is a reasonable prospect of such a proposal being successful'.
Aella made the first approach in March when it offered €18.50 a share but a stalemate was reached in June, by which time both Aella and Moonduster had placed 22-euro bids on the table and each had enough shares to block the other's offer.
ICG's shares closed up 1.2% at €25.25, around 60% above where they were trading before Aella made its initial bid in March.
