O'Brien increases Aer Lingus holding

TELECOMS TYCOON Denis O’Brien has increased his shareholding in Aer Lingus to almost 3.3 per cent.

Mr O’Brien increased his holding in the airline from 15.6 million shares to 17.6 million shares, a notification on the Irish Stock Exchange indicated yesterday.

It is requirement for a company to notify the stock exchange when an individual shareholding crosses the 3 per cent mark.

A spokesman for Mr O’Brien said the Digicel owner had been “a staunch supporter of Aer Lingus for many years”. It is understood Mr O’Brien has been a shareholder since the airline was first floated in 2006.

“He believes in the airline and its importance in the context of the Irish economy,” the spokesman added.

According to Bloomberg data, Mr O’Brien is the fourth biggest named shareholder in Aer Lingus. Ryanair, the biggest shareholder, has a 29.82 per cent stake, while the Minister for Finance holds a 25.11 per cent chunk on behalf of the State. The Aer Lingus Employee Share Ownership Plan owns 12.47 per cent.

A close associate of Mr O’Brien’s Leslie Buckley is also a small shareholder in Aer Lingus, holding a 0.02 per cent stake. Mr Buckley was one of the three representatives of Mr O’Brien appointed to the board of Independent News Media, in which the telecoms businessman owns a 20.83 per cent stake.

Mr O’Brien’s main other aviation interest is the Dublin-based aircraft-leasing company, Aergo Capital.

Aer Lingus’s share price closed at 92 cent on the Iseq index yesterday, down 6 cent on the previous day. The fall was attributed to its €32.5 million exceptional provision relating to redundancy payments made to staff in 2009.

The company publishes its preliminary results for 2010 on Monday.