Eircom investors find no relief

As an exercise in transparency, it was a disappointment. But then, if nothing else, little investors have learned a valuable lesson about transparency and the allocation of power within public companies as a result of their bruising encounter with Eircom.

There was never any doubt that the board would win the day at the extraordinary general meeting to decide whether to break Eircell apart from the parent company prior to its sale to British mobile phone giant Vodafone.

Despite the fact that Eircom had built in a safety net allowing it to walk away from the deal without penalty at any price below £2.20 sterling (€3.56) per Vodafone share - presumably because such a value was seen ludicrously to undervalue the Irish group's valuable mobile arm - there was never a hint of such a retreat, despite Vodafone's price languishing below £2 sterling.

The board may well argue that the sector had suffered as a whole since then and that, in any case, walking away might prove more damaging than continuing to walk the plank.

That is small consolation to shareholders who can now look forward only to being strong-armed out of their remaining Eircom shares in a takeover by one of the three or more suitors sizing up the company.

At that point, they will have little option but to put their faith in a recovery at Vodafone to recover as much of their initial investment as possible. At least the wait will allow them time to judge the merits of any future investment in any "sure fire" flotations.