Ireland’s debt-ridden incumbent Eircom is poised to be placed in the hands of new Singaporean owners, Singapore Technologies Telemedia (ST Telemedia).
According to Irish press reports ST Telemedia will buy Eircom in a transaction worth €130 million by the end of this week.
Last week the firm made a revised bid for the 57.1% majority stake of the Irish carrier at €130 million, which is currently owned by Australian-based Eircom Holdings, formerly known as Babcock and Brown Capital.
STT had put an earlier offer in for the stake at €120 million in April but was rejected by the board.
Eircom currently holds net debts of around €3 billion. If the transaction takes place it will mark the fifth time Eircom has had a change in ownership since privatization in July 1999. ST Telemedia, owned indirectly by the Singapore government investment firm Temasek, is the controlling shareholder in StarHub and a major investor in capacity carrier Global Crossing.
Reports claim that the firm has already met with the Irish Government to discuss ways of upgrading the country’s broadband infrastructure and making it internationally competitive.
Eircom also owns and operates the Meteor mobile network in Ireland.