Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, has been rapped by the Irish Takeover Panel for breaching the regulator's rules in a statement made relating to the €1.48 billion hostile takeover bid for Aer Lingus.
Ryanair had claimed in an October 20th statement its €2.80 a share bid for Aer Lingus was worth an average of over €60,000 to each member of the Irish flag carrier's Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT), which holds a 12.6 per cent stake.
"While some of the assumptions underpinning the figures in the statement are set out in the announcement, the panel decided that sufficient detail on the assumptions underpinning the figures in the statement was not disclosed," the panel said.
"Consequently, Aer Lingus shareholders were provided with insufficient detail to enable them to assess the significance of this statement. As such, the statement did not satisfy the standards of completeness required."
Aer Lingus reckons Ryanair's offer is worth an average of €38,864 to employee members of ESOT and an average of €13,915 to ex-employee members.
Ryanair has amassed a 19.2 per cent stake in Aer Lingus and is targeting the 50.1 per cent holding that will give it management control.
However, opponents of the bid hold already some 46.6 per cent - a figure made up of ESOT's holding as well as the Irish government with 25.4 per cent, Aer Lingus pilots with 2.3 per cent, the Tailwind employees/pilots group with 4.2 per cent, and Denis O'Brien with 2.1 per cent - making the arithmetic difficult for Ryanair.
On Monday, Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, said it was most likely ESOT members would reject the offer, making it hard for the bid to succeed.