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File photo of a nervous Aer Lingus shareholder. nervous via Shutterstock

Aer Lingus shareholders are nervous IAG's takeover bid has failed

The airline’s stocks took a hit today following a Bloomberg report.

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’.

PastedImage-68915 Bloomberg Bloomberg

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.

Read: IAG’s promises on Aer Lingus regional routes are ‘entirely unacceptable’ >

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    Mute Crocodylus Pontifex
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    May 26th 2019, 9:07 AM

    This column is fastly becoming the Journal’s highlight of the week.

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    Mute Peter Gavin
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    May 26th 2019, 9:20 AM

    @Crocodylus Pontifex: anseo anseo

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    Mute Peter Gavin
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    May 26th 2019, 9:23 AM

    @Peter Gavin: chloisteáil chloisteáil

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    May 26th 2019, 11:19 AM

    @Peter Gavin: yep!

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    May 26th 2019, 12:20 PM

    Aontaím leat ‘s leis an Coiste Téarmaíochta gurbh álainn an aistriú sin; ach tá seans maith go mbeidh daoine ag gearán faoi an bhrídeach buile, agus iad measca leis an bhrídeach _atá ar_ bhuile agus cúis maith aicí?

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    Mute Darragh Henry
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    May 26th 2019, 9:24 AM

    Pop the bonnet off the word, not of the word. Right? You don’t pop the bonnet of the car do you. Just sayin.

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    Mute John Jones
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    May 26th 2019, 9:36 AM

    @Darragh Henry: You do pop the bonnet of the car actually. You don’t take the bonnet off.

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    Mute Sean
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    May 26th 2019, 10:22 AM

    @Darragh Henry: Not sure what you be up to, but yes, most people pop the bonnet of the car. Taking it off completed just seems like a lot of work.

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    Mute Michael Lynch
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    May 26th 2019, 1:56 PM

    @Darragh Henry: Schools back tomorrow. Just sayin’.

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    Mute Quiet Goer
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    May 27th 2019, 5:40 PM

    @Sean: Tis only 4 little nuts holding it on

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