AER LINGUS SEEKS INVESTOR TO BLOCK RYANAIR - The Irish Times says Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington has vowed to find a friendly investor who will take a majority stake in the airline to prevent Ryanair from bidding again for the company.
In an interview with the paper, Mr Barrington, who took on the role of chairman on October 6, said: 'If they don't get us this time around, they won't get us again because I'm not going to stay as chairman for three years and have this hanging over me. We can get a new shareholder to ensure that Ryanair can never get to 51%.
'You can't run a business with this sort of threat hanging over you all the time. I am not going to sit as chairman of Aer Lingus and have nothing happen, I can assure you of that.'
Mr Barrington said Aer Lingus had been examining a number of 'strategic options' for some time. The paper says Air France-KLM has been tipped by analysts as a potential rival bidder. Mr Barrington said that from a 'consumer point of view' and a 'country point of view', Air France-KLM 'would be a better option than Ryanair'.
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CREDIT UNION DIVIDENDS TO DROP - The Irish Independent reports on a survey which shows that the average dividend being paid by credit unions this year has fallen by 16% in a move that reflects investment losses and higher provisions for bad debts.
The survey, from the Irish League of Credit Unions, says some 20 credit unions out of 420 plan to pay no dividend this year. Almost half will pay between 2% and 3%.
The average dividend is likely to be 1.82%, compared with 2.11% last year. The Indo says credit unions have been holding their annual general meetings - at which members are asked to approve dividends - in the past few weeks.
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GERMAN RAIL PLAN TO CROSS CHANNEL - The Times says Germany is seeking to buy Britain's share of Eurostar in a move that would leave the high-speed international train service entirely under non-British control. The paper says passengers could benefit from direct services between London and several new continental destinations, including Cologne, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
The Times says Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany's state-owned railway, may also use Eurostar trains to operate a rival service through the Channel Tunnel, with competition resulting in cheaper tickets to Paris and Brussels.
But the paper says the British Government, which is preparing to sell the third of Eurostar that it controls, would lose the ability to influence the development of the rail link to the Continent.
DB has plans to be the dominant rail operator in Europe and already operates high-speed services between Germany and 80 foreign cities in cooperation with state-owned railways in France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria.
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BANKS INTERESTED IN UK BROADCASTING DEAL - The Daily Telegraph says City banks are vying for business among UK public broadcasters as the British Government seeks a solution to a potential £150m funding gap at Channel 4.
The paper understands NM Rothschild has been carrying out work for Channel 4's management to assess potential funding solutions, while the Shareholder Executive, the British Government arm that controls Channel 4, is close to appointing a bank to evaluate the future funding of the broadcaster.
The Telegraph says Morgan Stanley is understood to have already undertaken some informal work for the Shareholder Executive and is thought to be a strong contender to win the mandate.
It is also thought that the BBC has been working with Goldman Sachs to advise the Corporation on the future of its commercial arm BBC Worldwide. One possible outcome could see it tie up with Channel 4, says the Telegraph.
