Ryanair Responds to Irish Government Statement ...
RYANAIR RESPONDS TO IRISH GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON AER LINGUS TAKEOVER
OFFER
Ryanair said this evening (22 Jan) that it was disappointed by the
Irish Government's decision not to accept its all cash offer of ¤1.40
per share, which values Aer Lingus at ¤748m. However Ryanair will
respect and abide by the Government's decision, which means that
Ryanair's offer will not be successful, since our 90% acceptance
condition cannot be satisfied.
Ryanair believes the Government's decision is a wrong one, as this
cash offer greatly exceeds the intrinsic value of Aer Lingus
(something which Ryanair believes will be reflected in a sharp fall
in Aer Lingus' share price over the coming days). The Government's
decision also means that Ryanair's plan to double the size of Aer
Lingus' short-haul fleet and create 1,000 new Aer Lingus jobs cannot
now proceed.
Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said:
"We will respect and abide by the Government's decision. We don't
think it is in the best interests of Aer Lingus, which will be
isolated as a small, peripheral, loss making airline, reduced to
announcing so called "partnerships" with other loss makers like
United Airlines.
"It is strange, when the Irish Government is looking for ¤2bn in cost
savings, that it would reject an offer of ¤188m for its 25% stake in
Aer Lingus. It is also sad, when thousands of jobs are being lost
in Ireland, that Ryanair's offer to create 1,000 new Irish jobs in
Aer Lingus over the next 5 years has been rejected.
"We would like to thank the Government and other Aer Lingus
shareholders for the time and consideration they have given to our
offer over the past 7 weeks. Ryanair will now focus all of our
energies on continuing to successfully grow and develop Ireland's
biggest airline and we will ensure that Ireland will still be home to
one of Europe's big four airline groups (Ryanair, Air France, BA and
Lufthansa)."
Ends.
Thursday, 22nd January 2009
Enquiries:
Ryanair Telephone: +353 1 812 1212
Howard Millar
Davy Corporate Finance Telephone: +353 1 679 6363
(Financial Adviser to Ryanair and
Coinside)
Eugenée Mulhern
Brian Garrahy
Morgan Stanley Telephone: +44 20 7425 5000
(Financial Adviser to Ryanair and
Coinside)
Colm Donlon
Adrian Doyle
Murray Consultants Telephone: +353 1 498 0300
(Public Relations Advisers to Ryanair)
Pauline McAlester Telephone: +353 87 255 8300
The directors of Ryanair and Coinside accept responsibility for the
information contained in this announcement, save that the only
responsibility accepted by the directors of Ryanair and Coinside in
respect of the information in this announcement relating to Aer
Lingus and the Aer Lingus Group, which has been compiled from public
sources, has been to ensure that such information has been correctly
and fairly reproduced or presented (and no steps have been taken by
the directors of Ryanair and Coinside to verify this information). To
the best of the knowledge and belief of the directors of Ryanair and
Coinside (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is
the case), the information contained in this document for which they
accept responsibility is in accordance with the facts and does not
omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.
Davy Corporate Finance, which is regulated in Ireland by the
Financial Regulator, is acting exclusively for Ryanair and Coinside
and no one else in connection with the Offer, and will not be
responsible to anyone other than Ryanair and Coinside for providing
the protections afforded to clients of Davy Corporate Finance nor for
providing advice in relation to the Offer, the contents of this
announcement, the Offer Document or any transaction or arrangement
referred to in this announcement.
Morgan Stanley & Co. Limited is acting exclusively for Ryanair and
Coinside and no one else in connection with the Offer and will not be
responsible to anyone other than Ryanair and Coinside for providing
the protections afforded to clients of Morgan Stanley & Co. Limited
nor for providing advice in relation to the Offer, the contents of
this announcement, the Offer Document or any transaction or
arrangement referred to in this announcement. This announcement does
not constitute an offer or an invitation to offer to purchase or
subscribe for any securities. Any response in relation to the Offer
should only be made on the basis of the information contained in the
Offer Document or any document by which the Offer is made.
Terms defined in the Offer Document have the same meaning in this
announcement unless otherwise stated.
---END OF MESSAGE---
This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is
solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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