A round-up of tpday's other business news in brief ...
Deadline extended in ICG buyout
The bidder for Irish Ferries’ parent company has won an extension to the deadline for making its offer, as funding for the deal is taking longer than expected to finalise.
The Moonduster consortium and Eamon Rothwell had until the close of business yesterday to make an offer for stockmarket-listed ferry operator, Irish Continental Group (ICG).
But the Irish Stock Exchange takeover panel, which regulates buyouts and mergers on the market, yesterday extended the deadline to 5pm on April 29th.
Sixth Tysabri patient gets brain infection
A sixth patient taking the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri has developed a potentially deadly brain infection since the drug was reintroduced onto the market in July 2006.
Biogen Idec, which partners Irish drug firm Elan in the Tysabri project, announced the news late on Friday on its website, saying the case was confirmed on April 15th.
Biogen has said it does not plan to announce each new case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, except as a weekly update on its website. Even so, the confirmation occurred a day before Biogen’s first-quarter earnings conference call, and some analysts questioned why the company did not mention it. – (Bloomberg)
AIB employees reject pay freeze
AIB employees have rejected a series of proposed changes in pay and pension entitlements and their union has referred the matter to third party mediators.
Their union, the Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA), said the bank’s proposals, including a two-year pay freeze, a 5 per cent contribution from staff on a defined benefit pension and changes in the calculation of pension entitlements, had been rejected.
“The outcome of the ballot reflects the deep sense of upset and anger among staff at the bank’s opportunistic proposals,” said the IBOA’s general secretary Larry Broderick.
US banks locate €4bn fund in Ireland
A joint initiative between Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley has chosen Ireland to locate a fund of up to €4 billion in stock exchange products designed to allow investors to trade baskets or indices of equities and commodities.
Source has launched 13 exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) and 22 exchange-traded commodities (ETC), and selected Ireland to domicile its fund. Bank of Ireland Securities Services is the funds’ administrator, while Dublin law firm Maples and Calder are the lawyers to the fund.
