Aer Lingus Rejects Ryanair Takeover Bid

Monday, 1 December 2008 22:19
The Board of Aer Lingus has announced it has rejected a €748m offer by Ryanair to buy the airline.

In a statement, the board strongly advised its shareholders to take no action in relation to the Ryanair offer.

An earlier takeover bid by Ryanair for the airline was blocked by the European Union.

In a surprise move announced to the Irish Stock Exchange this morning, Ryanair said it was offering €1.40 per Aer Lingus share. It already owns 29.82% of the former state carrier.

Ryanair says it wants to 'merge the two airlines into one strong Irish airline group' under common ownership similar to recent mergers in Europe such as Air France-KLM and Lufthansa-Swiss.0

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1201/aerlingus.html