Eircom bidding war hots up

The battle for Irish incumbent Eircom has just heated up with the Valentia consortium raising its bid to E1.365 (£0.84) per share - a buyout offer worth E3bn (£1.8bn) - which has been accepted by Eircom.

However, it is understood that major shareholder Comsource - a joint venture between Swedish and Dutch operators Telia and KPN - who holds a 35 per cent stake in Eircom, will not support the Valentia bid unless it produces a firm revised offer by 5pm today.

Comsource and Valentia have an earlier agreement on who will purchase its share in Eircom, but due to the high cash offer from rival bidder e-Island last month, it was expected to switch its support.

It has been reported that Valentia had been looking for an irreversible binding from Comsource to back its bid unless a competing cash offer of more than E1.50 (£0.92) per share surfaced.

Valentia's new bid topples that of E1.36 (£0.83) per share by e-Island and comes a few days before Valentia's counter bid was due to expire.

Valentia's increase is the eighth time an offer has been raised for Eircom.