EIRCOM PLAN WILL WIPE OUT CURRENT OWNERS - The Irish Independent says Eircom managers have backed a plan to wipe out as much as €1.7 billion of debt and hand control of the company to top lenders. The paper says the deal means the long running Eircom debt crisis is finally nearing a close.
The company said it had rejected takeover bids submitted by last Monday's deadline for offers. Instead ownership is set to be handed over to its lenders following a last-minute deal agreed in London yesterday.
The Indo says current owners STT and a employee shareholder trust will be wiped out under the plan. However, Eircom's current management is expected to be handed a share of the business under the new deal. Eircom's top 'first lien' lenders will take control of the company under the plan.
In exchange they will write off 15% of the €2.4 billion they are owed. It is double the 'haircut' that the top lenders had agreed to at the start of December.
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TROIKA TALKS LOOK AT TRACKER TRANSFERS - The Irish Times says the valuation of tracker mortgages and the timing of their possible transfer from AIB and Permanent TSB to Irish Bank Resolution Corporation are being examined in more detail in talks to reduce the cost to the State of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.
The paper says the removal of €34 billion in loss-making trackers from AIB and Permanent TSB is the subject of the technical talks as part of the restructuring of the €31 billion promissory notes, or State IOUs, held by IBRC that are paying for Anglo and Irish Nationwide.
One option being examined by the troika and the State authorities for a draft paper on the issue is the creation of a Government bond to be used as collateral for a 30-year loan from the European bail-out fund at a low interest rate.
The bond could then be used by IBRC in an exchange with AIB and Permanent TSB for their tracker mortgages, and the tracker loans in turn used by IBRC to borrow from the European Central Bank. This could also allow the authorities to reduce IBRC's emergency loans from the Irish Central Bank.
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SHANNON BODY URGES TALKS ON GAS ROW - The Irish Examiner says the chief executive of Shannon Development has called on all sides in the dispute on the development of a proposed €1 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility to enter talks and reach a compromise solution.
Vincent Cunnane was commenting on the impasse between the Commission of Energy Regulation and Shannon LNG over its planned terminal on the Shannon estuary. He said the impasse had "put a question mark over the future viability of the project".
Shannon LNG proposes to build the terminal on a Shannon Development-owned land bank at Ballylongford, Co Kerry. Planning permission was secured four years ago. The project is expected to provide 800 jobs in construction and supply up to 45% of Ireland’s gas requirements to the national grid. Shannon LNG has spent €40m on the project.
However, in its row with the commission, Shannon LNG contends that the new tariff structure around the funding of gas interconnectors into Ireland will cost the company €75m per annum.
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BP PROBES TANKER ARM "BRIBERY" CLAIM - The Daily Telegraph reports that oil giant BP is investigating a "serious case of bribery and corruption" alleged to have been taking place in the company's tanker chartering division.
Details of the allegations are contained in a letter written to chief executive Robert Dudley by a whistleblower describing himself only as a "BP employee".
The letter, seen by the Telegraph, purports to detail how the alleged corruption has been going on at BP for over five years. The allegation centres on the relationship between a senior BP employee and one of the company's suppliers. Both parties are named in the letter.
Criminal investigators at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have also received a copy of the letter and are taking a preliminary look at it.
