Ireland-based eircom said it does not intend to proceed with a stock market listing "at this time", saying there are "encouraging signs of positive momentum in the business".
eircom confirmed in June that an initial public offering (IPO) was one of the options being discussed by its board of directors in a strategic review of the company's position.
Now, the operator said its primary focus in the coming months will be to accelerate its positive momentum, continue to improve its financial performance and realise the benefit of its investment programme.
It added that its key shareholders have also expressed a preference to "continue participating in the upside from the significant network investment made in recent years, which has only recently begun to manifest itself in the company's operating and financial results."
The operator faces considerable pressures in the Irish market just two years after filing for Ireland's largest bankruptcy in corporate history. The company filed for protection from creditors to the tune of more than €3.75 billion ($4.8 billion) in debt, and was then placed under the control of more than 100 lenders, who created a new team to lead the business in the form of Herb Hribar, previously from Kabel Deutschland, and Richard Moat, formerly of EE.
In August, eircom agreed a key network-sharing deal with Three Ireland that will see the two operators share existing mobile infrastructure and split the cost of deploying new cell sites through 2030.
The agreement fulfilled a European Commission requirement for Three Ireland to offer eircom an improved network-sharing deal in return for the Commission clearing its acquisition of domestic rival O2 Ireland in May.
eircom offers mobile services under the Meteor and eMobile brands and competes here with Vodafone Ireland as well as the enlarged Three Ireland group.
For more:
- see this eircom statement
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