The Irish Takeover Panel has told the One51 Capital/Doyle Group consortium that it must make a bid for Irish Continental Group (ICG) by June 13th or withdraw its proposed offer. Ciarán Hancock, Business Affairs Correspondent, reports.
This follows several weeks of strained relations between the consortium and the company's independent directors, which resulted in a request being made to the panel to impose a deadline on the Philip Lynch-led consortium.
The consortium had claimed that it was not being provided with sufficient information to complete its due diligence process. This was denied by ICG's independent directors.
News of the deadline sent ICG's shares up 75 cent or 3.7 per cent to €21.
In a statement released to the Stock Exchange, the panel said: "Following correspondence with the advisers to both the consortium and the independent directors, the panel has ruled that, except with the consent of the panel, the consortium must by 5pm on June 13th either announce an offer for ICG . . . or that it will not proceed with an offer."
If the consortium does not lodge a bid for ICG, the panel said it will be prohibited from bidding for the ferry group for a 12-month period.
A source close to the consortium said it was confident of lodging a bid by June 13th.
The deadline set by the panel means that the consortium will have had more than two months to submit a bid since first expressing an interest in acquiring the ferry business.
One source close to the bidding process described the deadline imposed by the panel as "extremely generous".
The consortium first declared its interest in bidding for ICG on April 4th and has acquired a 20.5 per cent stake in the company.
The consortium will be required to offer a minimum €20.75 a share. Bank of Ireland and HBOS are believed to be funding the consortium's bid.
The ferry company is already subject to a €471 million bid from a management team lead by ICG chief executive Eamonn Rothwell.
This group has made a bid of €18.50 a share through a company called Aella, which is backed by AIB.
Mr Rothwell and the other members of the management team hold a 14.1 per cent share in ICG.
The panel is believed to have met in Dublin on Tuesday to discuss the matter. This followed a request from ICG's independent directors on May 25th for a bid deadline to be set.
