EIRCOM plant share buy back nach verkauf von Eircell an Vodaphone ... - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Ines40]

Saturday, December 16, 2000
By John McManus = Irish Times
The board of Eircom is considering a £700 million (euro 889 million) share
buy-back following the sale of Eircell to Vodafone.
The disposal of the mobile business to the British group is due to be
announced in the middle of next week and could fetch about euro 4.7 billion,
substantially less than the euro 5.1 billion originally mooted. Talks
between the two sides will continue over the weekend.
Merrill Lynch, the US bank advising Eircom, has prepared a paper for the
board setting out a number of options for the company following the sale of
Eircell.
The board is keen to explore alternatives to the immediate sale of its
fixed-line business to Mr Denis O`Brien who has tabled a euro 2.25 billion
offer.
The US bank has proposed that Eircom buy back up to £700 million of its own
shares following the sale of Eircell.
The buy-back would push up the company`s share price and make it possible to
achieve a higher price for the fixed-line business, it argues. It is unclear
where the funds for the buy-back would come from as any attempt to use some
of the Eircell proceeds would be opposed by Comsource, the largest
shareholder in the group.
Eircom has no debts and considerable cash resources which have been
earmarked for capital investment. These funds could be used instead for the
share buy back, it has been suggested.
Comsource could be expected to support such a buy-back as it would be in
line with their goal of exiting the company. The Dutch-Swedish alliance has
made it clear that it has no desire to remain as long-term investors in
Eircom after the sale of Eircell.
KPN, the Dutch phone company which makes up 60 per cent of Comsource, has
already had talks with a consortium led by businessman Mr Paul Coulson about
the sale of its 21 per cent after the Eircell sale.
The talks, which ended two weeks ago, were inconclusive but could be quickly
reactivated, according to sources.
Eircom`s board has not discussed the Merrill Lynch paper in any detail as
the Vodafone deal has been the focus of its attention. Directors are
unlikely to discuss it in any detail until the new year.
Mr Alfie Kane, the chief executive, is understood to prefer a straight sale
of the fixed-line business to Mr O`Brien or any other bidder. He would like
to see this deal put to shareholders at a general meeting in the new year
along with the Eircell sale.
Eircom and eIsland, the consortium led by Mr O`Brien, signed a
confidentiality agreement a week ago and have begun serious talks. Eircom
has indicated that eIsland`s initial bid of euro 2.25 billion is too low but
the O`Brien consortium has yet to decide if an increased offer is justified.
Eircom shareholders are expected to get Vodafone shares in exchange for
Eircell and cash for the fixed-line business. They will also retain a stake
in the rump multimedia business which is valued at up to euro 700 million.
When all three elements of the break-up are taken into account, they will
get about euro 3.90 per share that most paid for their stakes in last year`s
flotation.

[Ines40]

Merrill Lynch advises £700m Eircom buyback
By Lauren Jacob
Merrill Lynch, the US bank has proposed that Eircom (LSE: EIR.L - news) buy back up to £700m of its own shares following the sale of Eircell to Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) . The sale of the mobile business is thought to be announced some time next week and could bring about €4.7 billion. The board, is anxious to explore alternatives to the sale of its fixed-line business, and the buy-back would push up the company`s share price making it possible to achieve a higher price. It is as yet unclear as to where the funds would come from as an attempt to use some of the Eircell proceeds would be opposed by Comsource, the largest shareholder in the group

[Ines40]

Eircom to agree on deal
By John Murray Brown
Published: December 18 2000 22:15GMT | Last Updated: December 19 2000 04:15GMT



Eircom, the Irish telecommunications company, expects to agree terms this week on an all-share deal to sell Eircell, its mobile subsidiary, to Vodafone, the world`s largest mobile phone company.

A banker close to the deal said there was "a general expectation that a deal will be done this week". This would see Eircom shareholders receive one Vodafone share for every two Eircom.

The deal would value Eircell at between E4.6bn ($4.1bn) and E4.8bn ($4.3bn), lower than the target of E5.1bn earlier suggested, reflecting the recent fall in Vodafone`s share price.

Vodafone is understood to have secured a "no compete" agreement with Eircom under which the Irish company has undertaken not to bid for a third generation licence. Etain Doyle, the Irish telecommunications regulator, last week published the terms of the competition for the 3G licence.

Vodafone was anxious to ensure Eircom`s residual operation would not be able to set up a mobile operation in competition with Eircell.

[Ines40]

kopie vom yahoo us board ... ;-) ... good times are coming

1.00+1.80 not equal to 2.49 !!!!
by: janeirl 1/15/01 9:31 pm
Msg: 945 of 946

Vodafone offer: Eircell: 1.90 Euros (done deal)
+ O`Briens offer for remainder: 1.00 (will be increased say 10% to 1.10) = 2.90.

Current share price 2.49 = 20% discount to break up value.

This is a no brainer for a 20% return between now and June. I bought at 2.39 ($9.00 ADR) and so I am looking at around 30%.

If one million pounds of shares are good enuf for the new CFO at this price, they are good enough for me !!!

[Ines40]

Eircell could avail of Vodafone`s Europe roaming of 80c per min
By Eilish Lenny
Eircell customers will be able to avail of a new Europe service from Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) if the sale of Eircell goes through. The service from Vodafone, called Eurocall, to be operational from March, will make mobile usage in Europe simple, transparent and better value. Eurocall customers will be charged a single rate for incoming and outgoing calls on any Vodafone partner network in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden or the UK and will be charged a single rate of 80c (Ir£1.01) per minute to any country in Western Europe.

[Ines40]

ECtel’s QualiView(TM) is eircom’s Choice for Network Quality of Service and Performance Monitoring


Wednesday, January 17, 2001 8:32:27 AM ET Quote News Earnings Analysts Valuations Sentiment Picks Insiders News Selects Discussion Profile Fundamentals Industry Technicals Chart Intra-Day Chart Price History Option Chain Financials Income Statement Balance Sheet

Ticker Lookup






PETAH TIKVA, Israel, Jan 17, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- ECtel Ltd. (Nasdaq: ECTX) today announced that eircom UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of eircom Plc, Ireland’s principal provider of fixed line and mobile telecommunications services, has placed an order for QualiView(TM), one of ECtel’s Quality of Service products, for quality of service monitoring of its domestic and international networks.

QualiView(TM) is an automated, non-intrusive monitoring system that comprehensively measures many different performance parameters of a network. Using ECtel’s leading-edge INMD technology, it monitors all calls traversing the SS7 data links and interfaces in a network at the E1/T1 level, providing a powerful proactive tool for network quality-of-service and performance assurance.

eircom UK, established in 1998, competes in the highly competitive UK telecommunications market by means of competitive pricing, high quality and strategic relationships with key customers and market segments. It has a technologically advanced telecommunications network infrastructure with fully digital exchanges, which route the telecommunications traffic. Part of the company’s philosophy is that the reach and quality of the telecommunications network should allow it to enhance its existing range of services and to introduce new services in a cost-effective manner.

Aharon Shech, President & Chief Executive Officer of ECtel Ltd., commented: "eircom UK’s decision to acquire ECtel’s QualiView(TM) solutions is particularly significant, due to the emphasis given by this carrier in the high quality of their network. ECtel’s far-reaching reputation as the leader in the QoS arena is constantly reinforced by the growing numbers of new customers worldwide, and we welcome this newest member."

Shech continued: "We are most gratified by the recognition in the marketplace and pledge our most dedicated commitment to eircom UK and all of our highly appreciated customers."

ECtel Ltd

As the leader in networks monitoring technology, ECtel Ltd. develops and markets solutions that enable telecommunications service providers to monitor the quality of service over voice, data, cellular and VOIP networks; to detect and prevent telecommunications fraud, such as cellular fraud, calling card fraud and premium rate services fraud; and to enable billing mediation applications for traffic that is transported across networks of other service providers. All products are proprietary in-house developed state-of-the-art technologies in the areas of SS7 signaling analysis, data management and DSP algorithms and can be incorporated in one platform. For more information on ECtel, we invite you to visit our web site at http://www.ectel.com/.

Certain statements contained in this release contain forward-looking information with respect to plans, projections or future performance of the Company, the occurrence of which involves certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, product and market acceptance risks, the impact of competitive pricing, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties and other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE ECtel Ltd.