A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Newcourt in talks over offer for Ely

Newcourt Group, one of the largest security firms in the Republic, has confirmed that it is in discussions with Ely Property Group about a possible offer on the company.

Any agreed transaction will be funded from a combination of Newcourt's internal resources, external debt and a market placing of its shares, the Newcourt Group said yesterday in a statement.

The discussions are being held as part of Newcourt's acquisition strategy in key growth segments of outsourced services markets.

The group, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) index for smaller firms, is also involved in the recruitment sector, while Ely specialises in property and facilities management.

Newcourt declined to comment last month on market speculation linking it with Ely.

CityJet buys new aircraft for $221m

CityJet, the Irish airline owned by Air France, has completed a $221 million (€174 million) deal to acquire 23 new aircraft. It plans to use the new planes developing several key routes, including Dublin to London City airport.

The new Avro RJ 85 aircraft have been acquired from British Aerospace and MBIA, the US-based financial underwriters. Some of the new aircraft will replace some of CityJet's older BAe146 aircraft.

Geoffrey O'Byrne-White, chief executive of CityJet, said this was the largest investment in the history of the airline.

Island begins drilling off Kinsale

Island Oil and Gas, the Irish based exploration company, has started drilling at the old head in Kinsale, Co Cork. The well (49/23-1) is being drilled using the Petrolia rig owned by Petrolia Drilling. The rig is under contract to Island.

Island Oil and Gas is an AIM-listed company with nine offshore licences, including one producing gas field.

ID cards will help bank system - Ibec

Ireland is at a major disadvantage when it comes to fighting organised crime and terrorism without a national identity card system, Financial Services Ireland has claimed.

The Ibec group, which represents the financial sector, said criminals were able to launder their money and a national identity card system would help banks to identify customers.

"European anti-money laundering law assumes that secure and verifiable forms of identification are universally available. This is true in many European countries, particularly those that operate a mandatory identity cards system, but not in Ireland," said the group's director, Aileen O'Donoghue.

Eircom takeover details released

The details of the banking finance behind Babcock & Brown's takeover of Eircom were released yesterday. The deal comprises €3.3 billion of senior secured credit facilities, said a statement. The following banks are arranging the financing: Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort and JP Morgan.

The takeover still needs to be approved by Eircom shareholders at an EGM on July 26th.

O'Brien moves into UK radio

Entrepreneur Denis O'Brien has made his first foray into the UK radio market. Mr O'Brien's Communicorp Ltd has applied for a radio licence in Liverpool. The station, to be called Jack FM, will be aimed at the 40-59-year-old market.

The consortium also includes David Mansfield, a former chief executive of Capital Radio and GCap Media.