Compiled by CAROLINE MADDEN

O'Brien to secure Siteserv 

THIS THURSDAY, at an extraordinary general meeting in the Dawson Street offices of Davy stockbrokers, the shareholders of Siteserv will almost certainly vote in favour of Denis O’Brien’s takeover of the infrastructure and utilities business.

Why? Because of a €5 million sweetener very kindly being facilitated by the bank formerly known as Anglo.

The deal sees Siteserv’s main lender, IBRC, write off more than 70 per cent of its debt, yet the shareholders are being offered a premium of more than 290 per cent on the company’s January share price.

In terms of cold, hard cash, this means that of the €45.4 million O’Brien is offering, €40 million goes to the former Anglo (even though it is owed more than €150 million by Siteserv), leaving about €5 million for shareholders.

So why is this State-owned bank, which one would hope is trying to recover as much taxpayers’ money as possible, letting €5 million slip through its fingers?

Presumably in the interests of expediency – in other words, to grease the wheels and get the deal done.

And it looks like it’ll work: in a circular to shareholders, the directors of Siteserv unanimously recommended that all shareholders vote aye.

Limelight on ECB's Mario

HOME-OWNERS hoping for a cut in mortgage repayments are likely to be disappointed when the European Central Bank’s governing council meets this week, as the consensus is that its key interest rate of 1 per cent will be left unchanged.

Instead ECB president Mario Draghi is expected to stick to his usual script, stressing that the council is perfectly happy with how its exceptional support mechanisms – such as its long-term refinancing operations, which have taken quite a bit of flack lately – are working.

“He has to say that,” says KBC economist Austin Hughes. “If he doesn’t say that, it implies that what the ECB has done hasn’t been productive at all.”

Hughes says this week’s gathering is one of those “delicate meetings” where not a lot is expected to be announced, so any remarks that deviate from the script are likely to wrong-foot markets.

From an Irish perspective, the QA session after the interest rate announcement will be of most interest, as Draghi will almost inevitably be asked for his view on Ireland’s controversial €3.1 billion promissory notes.

US jobs figures work for Obama

IT’S ELECTION year in the US, and Obama’s hopes of four more years would be considerably boosted if the economy were to recover more rapidly than expected. This means that managing expectations is key. So the president will have been grateful to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke who damped down hopes last week when he warned that recent gains in the labour market might not last.

There have been strong signs in recent months that the US economy is gathering momentum, with speculation that it is even moving into a so-called virtuous cycle. However thanks to the note of caution sounded by Bernanke, the market will now be nervously watching Good Friday’s key employment figures to see whether his fears are borne out by the numbers.

The February employment report confirmed that businesses created more than 200,000 jobs a month for three consecutive months. However, although unemployment is falling, it remains high at 8.3 per cent, and no modern president has been re-elected with a rate above 7.2 per cent. Even with expectations lowered, the Good Friday numbers will have to be solid enough to convince markets that recent improvements were not just another false dawn.