Ictu general secretary David Begg and a London corporate lawyer, Michael Johns, are being lined up to join the board of Aer Lingus as representatives of its employee share ownership trust (Esot) when the airline floats next month. Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent, reports.
With an initial public offering pencilled in for the weeks beginning September 25th or October 2nd, the Aer Lingus board discussed its financial results for the first half of the year when it met on Tuesday.
The board meets again tomorrow to sign off on an updated draft of the flotation prospectus, which is being amended to include the new figures.
While there was nothing in the results to suggest that the flotation cannot go ahead, the exact position is not known. It is believed the results were regarded as satisfactory, given that airlines typically make the bulk of their profits in the second half of the year.
If all goes to plan, Aer Lingus will make a formal declaration next week of its intention to float. The prospectus will be published in the week after that. This will be followed by a negotiation on the price of the share offering.
In advance of the final-round preparations for the privatisation, the Government is understood to have indicated its willingness to appoint two directors to the airline's board to represent the Esot's interests.
Mr Begg was chosen by the Esot because neither Siptu nor Impact would have accepted a nominee from the other union. The two unions have a history of rivalry in Aer Lingus, where they dominate worker representation.
Mr Johns is a partner in Ashurst solicitors, a London practice that advises the Eircom Esot. Ashurst is not advising the Aer Lingus Esot, but he was chosen because trade union figures have high regard for his work for Eircom's Esot.
He advised that body during Eircom's acquisition by Babcock & Brown, the Australian fund. The Esot emerged from that transaction with a significantly enlarged stake in the group.
The Central Statistics Office said yesterday that the number of US visitors to Ireland grew by 8.4 per cent in the first half. While Aer Lingus is likely to have taken at least some additional business on its most lucrative routes from that increase, it also faced higher fuel prices. However, the company is known to hedge at least 40 per cent of its requirements.
Aer Lingus is known to have sent a draft prospectus to the stock exchange some weeks ago.
It is likely that the final document will refer to an outstanding legal action against Aer Lingus from a former chief executive, Michael Foley, who sued over the circumstances of his sacking in 2001 after two complaints of sexual harassment were upheld against him. Mr Foley always denied any wrongdoing.
