One of Ryanair’s past-times is the constant stalking of Aer Lingus.
Ryanair (who own 29.8% of Aer Lingus) has placed a fat offer of a 694 million euro cash bid for Aer Lingus in a new attempt to gain of EI, at 1.30 euros per share
There are two rather big obstacles to overcome for a takeover however – The Office of Fair Trading ruled that Ryanair’s ownership of the minority stake threatened competition in the UK, whilst the European Commission threw out the last takeover bid in 2007.
Ryanair believes circumstances have changed with more consolidation in the airline industry, more capacity at Dublin Airport, and the likelihood that the Irish Government may seek to sell its 25% in the Aer Lingus.
Whilst the Irish Government has committed to sell its stake in Aer Lingus as part of the EU/IMF bailout that Ireland has received, it has flat out refused to sell the stake to Ryanair due to competition concerns.
Ryanair is positive that forward traction can be made, with “appropriate remedies made” as required, however there is one heck of an obstacle in the way of the EU and the UK Office of Fair Trading who will scrutinise this to an inch of its life, giving more room for Ryanair to moan it is being constrained – when in fact it isn’t as it is operating mostly in a single European sky…