AFTER SPEAKING to Irish Continental Group’s (ICG) long-serving chief executive Eamonn Rothwell yesterday about results in the year to date (see page 2), it’s clear that he hasn’t given up hope that a successful bid for the ferry company might be just over the horizon.

Three weeks ago, Rothwell and Philip Lynch’s Moonduster group conceded defeat in their plan to make an offer for ICG, much to the disappointment of all involved. They couldn’t secure the necessary finance in the current economic climate and there were also differences with the independent directors over the valuation of the business.

ICG has been the subject of a takeover saga for the past two years, with property developer Liam Carroll, who owns just over 29 per cent, the third interested party in all of this.

At one point in 2007, ICG shares were changing hands at €24 each, but they now bob around the €10 mark follow the collapse of the Rothwell/Moonduster bid.

Strictly speaking, Rothwell and Moonduster are precluded from making a fresh offer for ICG for 12 months, although the Irish Takeover Panel has the power to waive this derogation if it sees fit.

So what are the chances of a new bid emerging? “It’s fair to say that even in the last month, the marketplace has improved a little bit,” Rothwell told me.

“They get better as the market structures and market circumstances improve. There has been a good rally internationally. People have now stopped talking about deflation, [so] the background is much more favourable for a new deal.”

So will he go again? “I can’t possibly answer that,” he replied.

Fair enough, but surely he’d like the two-year logjam broken.

“It’s in the interests of all ICG shareholders to get a resolution. It’s a distraction having the current shareholder structure. How can anyone be happy with that? I think it would be better if there was a resolution. Maybe we can get there.”

Most observers were surprised that Rothwell and Lynch, who control about 41 per cent of ICG’s shares between them, teamed up to make a joint offer in the first place. In 2007, there were daggers drawn as they pursued separate bids. “We got on fine on a professional level,” Rothwell said about their recent alliance. “We both had a common goal to achieve an outcome. You got to do what you got to do. It didn’t come to pass in the end. ”