Babcock & Brown financier Rob Topfer received a €6.5 million bonus last year after he orchestrated the takeover of Eircom by the Australian investment fund.

The bonus figure was disclosed in Australian regulatory filings which say the Babcock & Brown unit that carried out the deal has A$500 million (€303.07 million) at its disposal "to look at follow-on opportunities around Eircom" and other big investments in the telecoms sector.

The 2006 financial report for Babcock & Brown Ltd did not specify the nature of the "follow-on" opportunities in question. Eircom is developing a 3G mobile service and increasing its capital expenditure, but it is unclear whether the new owners are examining further acquisition opportunities in Ireland.

The financial report shows that the successful execution of the Eircom deal with the telco's employee share ownership trust (Esot) helped Mr Topfer to triple his remuneration last year to A$14.9 million (€9.03 million).

Now a non-executive director of Eircom, he is head of corporate finance in Babcock & Brown Ltd, Australia's second-largest investment bank. One of its investment funds is Babcock & Brown Capital, the unit that led the buyout of Eircom.

Mr Topfer is also a significant shareholder in Babcock & Brown Ltd. His stake in the bank was valued this week at A$97 million (€58.77 million) by BWR, a leading business magazine published by the Fairfax group.

Separately, it emerged yesterday that Babcock and Singapore had won a takeover battle for Australian utility group Alinta. Their offer valued Alinta at A$7.4 billion (€4.48 million), ahead of a rival bid from Macquarie Bank.

The three-month takeover process was triggered by a controversial management buyout plan that sparked a debate over possible conflicts of interest. - (Additional reporting: Financial Times)