Fresh from a bloody nose from the European Commission, it’s the turn of the UK Competition Commission to land on on Ryanair.
The Competition Commission has indicated it force Ryanair to sell its entire stake in Aer Lingus, after a probe has found the near 30% holding that Ryanair has in Aer Lingus allows it to influence strategy at EI.
In the ruling, the Competition Commission states:
“Whilst not giving it control over the day-to-day running of its rival, Ryanair’s minority shareholding can influence the major strategic decisions that could be crucial to Aer Lingus’s future as a competitive airline”
Such decisions could obstruct Aer Lingus from merging with another airline, raise capital or sell slots.
The ruling sets out three options – none of which could be palatable to Ryanair:
- A full sell off of th 29.8% holding
- A partial sell off to reduce the holding
- “Behavioral remedies” such as how Ryanair could vote, or how it can dictate strategy.
Interested parties have until July to feedback, before the final and binding ruling is made.
This as you can guess has gone down like a lead brick over at Ryanair HQ, with them wanting to halt the UK probe until the European Commission has completed its probe.
Of course, it goes without saying that Ryanair would probably put up every barrier it can to be forced to sell its stake in Aer Lingus and utiltising the courts system to battle this – it’s three battle wounds from dealing with the European Commission over trying taking over its smaller rival.
As we all love Michael O’Leary quotes, he stated the decision was:
“bizarre and manifestly wrong”
He also suggested that the UK competition commission could be in breach of European Union law if it ruled while an EU court was considering the same question. A full copy of the whinefest can be found at http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/uk-competition-commission-provisional-decision-on-ryanair-aer-lingus-6-
The battle for Aer Lingus will continue, and I’m sure a lot of lawyers will make a lot of money before this is over….