REPORTS THAT THE Government is close to rejecting IAG’s takeover offer for Aer Lingus has spooked shareholders.
Quoting a ‘person familiar with the situation’, Bloomberg reported that a final decision has yet to be made, but IAG’s bid to takeover the airline looks to have fallen through.
The unconfirmed reports prompted Aer Lingus stock to fall by almost 10%.
After hovering around €2.22 per share for most of today, the stock tumbled to €2.00 over ten minutes just after 3pm Irish time today.
It has recovered slightly to €2.11.
Negotiations between the Department of Transport and IAG are set to continue this week.
RTÉ News reports that a senior Labour source said the Bloomberg report was ‘premature’.
IAG has made a provisional offer to buy Aer Lingus for €2.55 a share – valuing the Irish airline at about €1.35 billion.
The government owns a 25% stake in the carrier and any sale of its share needs to be passed through the Dáil, where the deal has run into opposition from most of the main political parties.
In response to the political roadblocks, IAG yesterday offered several commitments, including that it wouldn’t sell Aer Lingus’s 23 valuable Heathrow slots without the government’s agreement.
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