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The unnamed bank's
offer values the airport operator at between Eur2.6bn and Eur3bn, significantly
greater than market expectations. However, and this is the interesting part, the
valuation is based on Aer Rianta remaining intact and not being subject to competition.
That Brennan's laxity should come to light in the
week that the Government will examine the Department
of Transport report about the construction of a
second privately owned terminal at Dublin airport is,
probably, merely unfortunate. Although its affect -
to throw doubt on Brennan's plans to break up Act
Rianta - bears some similarity to the intention of
the source behind last December's great `brandy and
cigars' story.
Surely a coincidence
Inside Back was intrigued to read the press blurb about this week's Intertrade
Ireland private equity conference, which states that Irish companies are facing
difficulties securing equity funding from venture capitalists. Thankfully, one
of the main speakers is none other than Dr Eddie O'Connor, chief executive of
green energy company Airtricity, who can tell the assembled delegates a thing
or two about how to finance a cash hungry start-up. O'Connor persuaded cash-rich
infrastructure company NTR to take a majority stake in the venture in the early
stages back in 1999. Since then, NTR has had to keep handing over cash in fundraising
activities to fund the build out of windfarms around Ireland.
Last year the company raised just over Eur15m in the private markets and Inside
Back hears that the company is currently looking for a further Eur25m to Eur30m,
which it should have in the bag by June.
One investor who will definitely have to cough up if it doesn't want its stake
diluted is NTR. We also hear that Airtricity, which got planning permission for
Europe's biggest windfarm off the coast of Arklow, estimated to cost over Eur600m,
has signed heads of agreement with General Electric Wind Energy, not only to build
the infrastructure but also to fund it. Stage one is estimated to cost about Eur50m.
Hold the front page, these are tough times for headline writers - and indeed much
of the daily print media. Aside from the debacle over the state of play in key
southern Iraq hot spots Al Faw, Um Qasr and Basra over the first weekend of the
war, by Tuesday nearly all the English dailies had thrown in the creative towel
and agreed on the single headline of `Battle for Baghdad'. Only the Guardian,
ever the renegade, opted for a highly innovative `the' at the beginning, and the
Daily Telegraph, bastion of stiff-upperlip types added a `begins' at the end.
Ireland's waste crisis continues to deepen and the pressure will continue to grow
for companies trying to responsibly dispose of their rubbish. As landfills become
ever-more expensive and the pressure grows to recycle, many businesses are finding
that it pays to come up with imaginative ways to deal with the problem. This will
take on an even greater importance when European legislation forces manufacturers
to deal with waste packaging and product even after they have been sold.
Meanwhile, Vodafone has come up with a unique way of retrieving old clapped-out
mobile phones for re-use. From April 1, it will pay Eur5 to charity for every
mobile phone its Dutch clients turn in for recycling.
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