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• Banks must stay in Irish hands

  December 1, 2008 @ 5:26 pm | by John Collins

  In his BusinessOpinion column this week, business editor John McManus argues that the government must keep the banks in Irish hands, not least because Irish-owned banks are more inclined to lend to indigenous businesses.

  “All this will no doubt play out in the coming weeks, but as things stand, the Government has reason to be pleased with itself. The Irish banks have been galvanised into action and are confronting the reality that they will not all survive the process as independent entities. The second is that they have managed to turn what could have been a fire sale of the banks into something that has an element of competition and the prospect of only a minimal need for Government funds.

  Whether they arrived at this juncture by accident or design is not terribly relevant, but what is important is that from here on out they do not lose sight of the need for the banking industry to remain Irish-owned and Irish-run.”

• Dangers of putting banks in hands of private equity

  November 24, 2008 @ 12:51 pm | by John Collins

  In his Business Opinion column this morning John McManus looks at the pros and cons of private equity involvement in our banking sector:

  “…any discussion of merits of private equity investment in the banks probably has to start with a debate as to what sort of role we want banks to play in society and from that we could deduce the optimal ownership structure!

  But few would have the appetite for such navel-gazing and, in any case, nobody has the time. The barbarians are at the gates with their cheque books and time is of the essence.

  It’s really a question of whether a banking system controlled by private equity would be any worse than the one we have at the moment, or one in which the State owned the banks.”

• What is Independent’s strategy down under?

  November 17, 2008 @ 12:46 pm | by John Collins

  In his Business Opinion column today, business editor John McManus looks at the true significance of Independent News & Media putting its 39.1 per cent stake in Australia’s APN News & Media up for sale.

  “This analysis casts the disposal of the group’s stake in APN as a class of a fire sale – the objective being to rapidly deleverage the business, which is facing serious problems on various fronts.

  The INM version of what is going on is somewhat more prosaic – their jumping-off point being that rather than being active sellers they are responding to unsolicited approaches for the APN stake.

  A disposal is also not out of tune with the medium-term group strategy, which included a failed leveraged buyout of APN a year ago.

  Deleveraging and the release of cash were significant attractions for INM in that deal, and remain attractive.”

  O’Brien looms as O’Reilly opts to cut ties Down Under

• Home Choice Loans, another stupid State intervention

  October 27, 2008 @ 8:02 pm | by John Collins

  OPINION: AS THE wheels come off the Government’s Budget, the lack of a coherent economic policy at its base has become plain for all to see, writes John McManus

  The numerous unpopular measures in the Budget are hard to defend because none of them seems to be grounded in any sort of long-term economic planning which could be used to justify them.

  They are turning out to be exactly what they seem: a wildly disparate series of savings aimed at balancing the books.

  The overriding factor in the decisions as to where the cuts were made seems to have been political judgments as to whether or not the electorate would wear them. Where that judgment has been found wanting, the cuts have proved impossible to defend. (more…)

• Allegations by ICG merit full investigation

  October 20, 2008 @ 11:20 am | by John Collins

  John McManus/OPINION: THINGS ARE starting to warm up at Irish Continental Group (ICG) as the clock ticks down on the 12-month moratorium on bids imposed by the takeover panel, writes John McManus.

  The presumption until now was that not withstanding the current state of the market one or other of the three potential suitors would try and unlock the stalemate next month. The most likely outcome was seen as Moonduster, the consortium led by Philip Lynch’s One51 group, which owns 25 per cent, or Aella, the management consortium which owns 16 per cent, buying Liam Carroll’s 29.8 per cent stake with a view to having another go at taking control. (more…)

• Be careful what you wish for when it comes to State ownership of banks

  October 13, 2008 @ 2:48 pm | by John Collins

  John McManus/OPINION: MANY PEOPLE – if they are honest – are probably quite happy with the idea of the Government owning stakes in Irish banks. The concept is not out of tune with the public mood that the banks need to carry at least part of the can for the mess we have got ourselves into. (more…)