If it finally comes down to a matter of financing a €2.7 billion (£2.13 billion) bid for Eircom, there is no doubt that the O'Reilly Consortium - as it has called itself - is extraordinarily well endowed.
But market sources believe it is equally clear that Mr Denis O'Brien's eIsland consortium will also have little difficulty in finding well-resourced backers - both private and institutional - if eIsland proceeds to make a bid for the Eircom fixed-line business.
Such is Mr Dermot Desmond's reputation in the investment community that he, too, is unlikely to find it difficult to find financial backers for any takeover proposal he might put together.
The arrival of a possible bid from a consortium of financial buyers in the shape of the O'Reilly Consortium is seen as indicating a renewed willingness by venture capital groups to invest in telecom assets they believe may be undervalued by the stock market.
So far, the O'Reilly Consortium is the only one of the potential bidders for the Eircom fixed-line business to indicate publicly the identity of the backers for its possible bid. The consortium is made up of a number of private equity household names - Soros, Providence Equity, Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs - and is chaired by Sir Anthony, who is also a member of the group in a private capacity.
Probably the best known backer of the O'Reilly Consortium is financier Mr George Soros, who is involved through his Soros Private Equity Partners, a fund which has put $3.5 billion (€3.9 billion) into private equity transactions. In Ireland, Soros Private Equity has an indirect interest in the Meteor mobile phone group through its shareholding in Western Wireless, the US group that owns almost 78 per cent of Meteor.
Two other Soros vehicles, Soros Capital Limited Partners and Soros Capital Coinvestment Partners, were early investors in Mr O'Brien's Esat Telecom when it was a private company but sold their shareholding in Esat after it went public.
Providence Equity Partners also has a stake in Meteor through its shareholding in Western Wireless. Providence has $4.5 billion under management and has invested $1.5 billion in 55 telecom and media companies over the past 10 years.
Warburg Pincus has invested $12 billion in 29 countries through nine private equity investment funds and has $1.3 billion invested in 28 telecom and communications companies. In Ireland, it has a near 20 per cent stake in financial software company Cognotec.
The driving force, however, behind Sir Anthony's Consortium is American investment bank Goldman Sachs, which numbers former EU Commissioner Mr Peter Sutherland among its senior directors. Another Irish connection in Goldman Sachs is former rugby international Mr Hugo MacNeill, who has been directly involved in assembling the members of Sir Anthony's Consortium. Goldman Sachs has more than $13 billion in investments over the past 10 years and most recently in Ireland has been the lead manager in the flotation of mobile phone software group Parthus Technologies.
Sir Anthony, non-executive chairman of the consortium, is the only private investor. But market sources believe that if the consortium proceeds with a bid for Eircom, it will be no surprise if many wealthy individuals who have backed O'Reilly ventures in the past do not also become involved in backing the Eircom bid. These might include his brother-in-law, Mr Peter Goulandris, who has invested heavily in both Waterford Wedgwood and Fitzwilton, and wealthy Americans such as Mr John Kluge, Ms Ann Getty and Mr Paul Desmarais.
Mr O'Brien has said that he has debt funding in place for the prospective eIsland bid, which is thought to be €1.10 a share. Mr O'Brien would have little difficulty in getting funding for a bid. At Esat, he was able to assemble a high-profile group of investors when the company was private and also put together an impressive group of investors when Esat floated an $85 million junk bond on the American markets in 1997.
Mr Dermot Desmond's best known telecom investment was his initial 10 per cent stake in Esat Digifone, a stake that was reduced to 1 per cent and was eventually sold to BT as part of the BT takeover of Esat Telecom.
On the financing side, there is little doubt that Mr Desmond would have little difficulty in raising funding for a bid for Eircom - both from institutional and private equity funds and from wealthy friends such Mr J.P. McManus and Mr John Magnier.
