Ryanair board votes to accept IAG's offer for Aer Lingus stake

Ryanair announced (10-Jul-2015) its board of directors has voted unanimously to accept International Airlines Group's (IAG) offer for its 29.82% stake in Aer Lingus, with the board believing "that the current IAG offer maximises Ryanair shareholder value." The company will now vote in favour of acceptance of IAG's offer for Aer Lingus at the Aer Lingus EGM on 16-Jul-2015, as well as a motion providing guarantees for the use of Aer Lingus' slots at London Heathrow. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said: "We believe the IAG offer for Aer Lingus is a reasonable one in the current market and we plan to accept it, in the best interests of Ryanair shareholders. The price means that Ryanair will make a small profit on its investment in Aer Lingus over the past 9 years. This sale of our stake is timely given that our original strategy for Aer Lingus (to use it as a mid-priced brand to offer competition to flag carriers at primary airports) has been overtaken by the successful rollout since Sept 2013 of Ryanair's 'Always Getting Better' strategy, which has seen the Ryanair brand successfully enter many of Europe's primary airports, being rewarded with strong growth in our network, traffic, load factor and profitability, while keeping our fares low and our punctuality high." Mr O'Leary added: "We wish IAG well with their takeover of Aer Lingus. When Ryanair first bid for Aer Lingus in late 2006, Ryanair (36m passengers) carried 4 times Aer Lingus traffic (9m). Today Ryanair (over 100m) carries more than 10 times Aer Lingus traffic (10m), and we will continue to deliver the vast majority of Ireland's traffic and tourism growth in the coming months and years." [more - original PR]