Irish Continental Group (ICG) chairman John McGuckian yesterday welcomed the lapse of the offer period for the ferry operator, saying that in the absence of the likelihood of any successful offer it is in the best interests of the company.
ICG has been a takeover target since March 8th, when Aella, a group led by ICG chief executive Eamonn Rothwell, offered €18.50 a share to take control of the company. Since then Aella has made a higher €24 a share offer, which was rejected by shareholders; another potential bidder, Moonduster, has built up a substantial stake but failed to make a formal bid; and property developer Liam Carroll has amassed a significant holding in the company.
In that period the group's shares have risen 67 per cent from €15.60 on March 7th, to €26 at the close of trading on Wednesday, the deadline for Moonduster, a consortium comprising Philip Lynch's investment vehicle One51 and the Doyle Shipping Group, to make an offer. At one point yesterday the shares fell 25 cent before climbing back to close at €26.
In a statement to the stock exchange yesterday, Mr McGuckian described the near eight month offer period as an "inevitable distraction" for a company. He said the significant stakes held by the three parties - Moonduster's 25.9 per cent, Mr Carroll's 26.3 per cent and Aella's 16.9 per cent - meant that it had been impossible to gain the 75 per cent approval required for a takeover to succeed.
He warned that a lack of liquidity in the shares may in the future have a negative impact on the price, though this didn't seem to be the case yesterday.
Separately yesterday Mr Carroll increased his stake to 26.32 per cent. It is believed now that either Aella or Moonduster could link up with Mr Carroll to make a fresh bid for ICG.
