Eircom accepts takeover
Shareholders in Eircom's Australian holding company have voted overwhelming in favour of a €140m takeover by STT Communications.
The vote paves the way for Eircom's fifth owner since its flotation in 1999.
Eircom Holdings Ltd (ERC) said 110.2 million votes were cast in favour of the deal with the subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, which represented 99.68pc of all ballots cast.
ERC, formerly Babcock & Brown Capita, owns a 57.1pc stake in Eircom.
Employees at Eircom, who own 35pc of the operator through the Employee Share Ownership Trust (Esot), have already endorsed the takeover and ERC will today seek approval from the Federal Court of Australia.
If this is granted, ERC is expected to delist from the stock market in Sydney tomorrow and the A$225m (€140m) cash-and-share deal is expected to be finalised in early January.
Eircom is being acquired by Emerald Communications, a Cayman Islands-registered vehicle being used by STT and Esot to conduct the takeover of the Irish phone group.
This vehicle will become Eircom's fifth owner in a decade.
In a trading update for October and November, the group said that it achieved earnings of €109.4m on revenues of €308.6m in the period.
Earnings were flat across the group but mobile earnings, represented by Meteor, declined by 2.5pc.
- Caroline Crawford
