CurrentAccount:Tom Mulcahy and his band of Irish and Hungarian investors should know next week if they have been successful in their bid for Malev, the Hungarian state airline. But, to date they have been very coy about the size of any prospective deal.
Their rivals however are not so shy and one of them, Lithuania's ZIA Viada, says it will put aside €120 million for the deal. This, according to the owner of FlyLAL Lithuanian Airlines, includes making the necessary capital investment and taking over a share of the airline's debts, which are currently guaranteed by the Hungarian government.
Whoever wins will get their hands on Europe's best baggage handler, according to the latest survey of the Association of European Airlines, which shows Malev recorded the lowest number of damaged bags and fewest lost items of luggage in the third quarter.
This should encourage the bidders. Any carrier that can look after baggage that well is clearly overmanned and ripe for the axe.
Bórd na Móna not lacking in imagination
Bórd na Móna chief executive John Hourican has been telling the world over recent weeks just how ambitious his State-owned company is.
His latest plan is to purchase two ESB peat plants in the midlands at Shannonbridge and Lough Ree. The only problem is that ESB is not selling them and has not even been approached by Bórd na Móna about such a transaction.
The very idea of one semi-state borrowing millions of euro to buy plants from another semi-State at a time when the Government is trying to reduce state control of the electricity industry seems faintly bizarre.
Then again, far-out ideas have come from Bórd na Móna before and one cannot fault them for creative thinking - remember the plan to build Ireland's newest airport on a bog in the midlands?
EU lesson in power
It is often said that politicians hold themselves aloof from the "real world" and do not appreciate how their decisions and policies impact "on the ground".
The accusation that politicans are entirely removed from the problems they are trying to fix is especially levelled at those politicans toiling away at EU level. But this week the accusation was entirely unmerited.
Energy ministers gathered in Brussels yesterday to discuss how to cut the amount of energy used by EU citizens each year. However the stark realities of this complex issue were brought home when the room the ministers were meeting in was plunged into darkness following a power cut, of all things. Apparently a short circuit somehwere had caused the problem.
After power was restored EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs looked rueful and simply commented to his colleagues. "I hope that the next meetings will not be disturbed by blackouts but it definitely shows how important energy is."
Ballymore at races
Seán Mulryan's Ballymore Properties is the latest player to join the long list of Irish sponsors of races at Cheltenham.
Ballymore has agreed to sponsor the opening race on the second day of the Cotswold course's big festival in March. The contest was known up to this year as the Royal & Sun Alliance Hurdle after the UK insurer that stumped up the prize money.
However, Royal & Sun Alliance dropped its backing of the race for next year, leaving a gap that Ballymore this week agreed to fill. The value of the sponsorship will be around €180,000, 20 per cent more than the insurer.
Ballymore has sponsored races at other Cheltenham meetings, but this will be its first foray into supporting a race at the festival, which draws 12,000 Irish people every year.
Mulryan owns a number of jumps horses, and one, Irish-trained Le Toscan, is a candidate for the race that Ballymore will be sponsoring in March. He's one of the most successful national hunt owners in France, where local stars Cyrlight and Mid Dancer also carry his colours.
