Aer Lingus board shake-up planned

The Government plans to appoint three new directors to the board of Aer Lingus shortly in an attempt to beef up the company's experience of the equity markets.

Ahead of the company's IPO in late September, the Department of Transport is keen to appoint some new non-executive directors with experience of running or advising listed companies.

The present 10-person board contains few individuals with experience of running listed companies, although several directors are solicitors with experience of advising companies on IPOs. It is understood there are two vacancies on the board at present, which Mr Cullen may fill initially.

The board also contains three worker directors appointed by the Government under the Worker Participation Act 1977. It is believed that, once the company lists in Dublin and London, these directors will step down. Instead the Employee Share Ownership Trust (Esot), which owns 14.9 per cent of the shares, will nominate some directors. It is not clear how many directors the Esot will be able to nominate.

Senior Government sources said several "heavyweights" would be needed to bolster the board. It already contains Seán FitzPatrick, the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, who has extensive experience of dealing with Irish and institutional investors.

Fellow director Francis Hackett, managing partner of solicitors firm O'Donnell Sweeney was a former corporate counsel with Eircom, while Ivor Fitzpatrick, another solicitor, also has extensive experience with commercial clients, including acting for Dermot Desmond.

The other members of the board are: chief executive Dermot Mannion; chairman John Sharman; Anne Mills, a civil engineer; and Chris Wall, a business consultant and a close associate of the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Discussions are continuing about who might take up the positions, but the preference is for people with international experience. The Minister for Transport Mr Cullen is likely to increase the size of the board, rather than asking anyone to step down, it is understood. It is possible that other directors will also join the new Aer Lingus board when the company take up its two listings later in the year.

Yesterday, Mr Mannion ruled out any share options for directors or management ahead of the flotation. He said there were "no plans" for any share option scheme before the IPO. Asked what incentive plans might apply after that, he said this would be a matter for the board running the company at that time.

It is likely the chairman of the airline, Mr Sharman, will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Mr Sharman is a founding shareholder of Spectrum Capital Ltd, a UK company specialising in aviation financing. His contacts in London financial circles are regarded as being helpful to Aer Lingus.

Institutional investors yesterday played down the composition of the board, claiming the financial performance of the company was far more important. The presence of Seán FitzPatrick, however, is regarded as an advantage to the company by some Irish institutional investors.

The team presenting the company's story in August will be Mr Mannion, finance director Greg O'Sullivan, commercial director Enda Corneille and Niall Walsh, deputy chief executive.

Most of the main Irish institutional investors are likely to buy shares but there will also be interest from US mutual funds like Fidelity and Wellington which have extensive holdings in airline stocks.

The airline is not expected to make any major announcements ahead of September's IPO, although if especially good fleet deals arose the company might take advantage of them, Mr Mannion said yesterday.