An anonymous source rings the bell and says, a group...

An anonymous source rings the bell and says, a group led by former Esat Telecom Group CEO Denis O'Brien has proposed to purchase the fixed-line business of Irish telecom company Eircom PLC for 2.25 billion euros ($1.89 billion), or 1 euro per share. Eircom has not commented on the matter. Eircom currently dominates about 80% of Ireland's fixed-line market with 1.58 million telephone-line connections. Vodafone Group PLC previously held discussions to acquire Eircom's wireless operations for $4 billion (4.78 billion euros), but O'Brien's bid for the fixed-line operations is reportedly independent of Vodafone's efforts.

Wednesday, 25 October, 2000