A round-up of other business news in brief...

Eirgrid raises €39m to pay for NI system

National grid operator Eirgrid has completed a €39 million fundraising to pay for its purchase of Northern Ireland’s system operator and provide working capital. Barclays Bank raised the cash for the State agency.

Director Niall Quinn said yesterday the deal was the type of “strategic transaction” the bank was supporting in the current climate.

Meanwhile, Eirgrid has predicted that its network should have the capacity to generate enough electricity to meet demand this winter based on information from power plant operators.

Defaulters face arrest in Nigeria

Nigeria has given defaulting debtors of five banks rescued in a $2.6 billion bailout, including some of the nation’s most powerful tycoons, a week to organise repayment or face arrest and asset seizures.

Farida Waziri, chairwoman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set the deadline hours after the central bank published a list of the banks’ debtors and warned they would face legal action if they did not pay up. She gave them a week to bring in their money or risk arrest.

Survival plan for Fate Park passed

A scheme for the survival of a Galway-based fuel distribution group employing 105 people has been approved at the High Court.

As part of the scheme, Tedcastles oil group is to invest some €11.5 million in Fate Park Limited and one of its subsidiaries, Castlebar Oil Company, which has a 15 per cent share of the oil distribution market in Connacht.

Only one creditor, Topaz Oil, had objected to the scheme being approved. Others were neutral towards the scheme.

€3m extra funding for micro firms

“Micro enterprises” in Ireland could be given access to more than €3 million in additional funding under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. This follows the signing of a guarantee agreement between the European Investment Fund – Europe’s main finance support organisation for small and medium enterprises – and First-Step Microfinance, a private not-for-profit institution that provides interest-bearing loans of up to €25,000 over a three-year period.

San Leon well producing gas

Irish oil and gas exploration company San Leon Energy said it has started commercial delivery of gas from its first well in Texas.

San Leon is chaired by former Smart Telecom chief executive Oisín Fanning who said the company had achieved its objective of taking advantage of low-risk exploration opportunities in the US to generate cash flow.

It said it has a production capacity of 1.3 million cubic feet per day and that it plans to drill three more wells in the Palo Pinto county site.