Ciaran Hancockreports on Blue Ocean, airport charges, US real estate, Shannon airport redundancy package and Irish Life and Permanent's David Went.
Blue Ocean set to make waves
Slowly but surely, the pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place for the Domhnall Slattery-backed Blue Ocean Wireless. The fledgling company, which aims to provide cost-effective GSM mobile phone calls to crewmen travelling the high seas on container ships, will today announce that Richard Johnson is to be its first chief executive.
Mr Johnson, a Briton, is the director of maritime and aeronautical services at Inmarsat, a global satellite communications provider that has teamed up with Blue Ocean to provide the mobile phone service.
Mr Johnson, who is a master mariner and spent 13 years at sea with Shell Tankers, will shortly move to Dublin to head a team of about 15.
Mr Slattery recently signed a lease to take one floor of the Oval office building in Ballsbridge where most of his other companies are based.
He is also active on the investment side. The Clare-born businessman is in negotiations with a European corporate bank and a New York-listed GSM operator to take equity stakes in his business. This could raise a much-needed $25 million for Blue Ocean.
Mr Slattery's Claret Capital owns 51 per cent of Blue Ocean and has put $20 million equity into the business. Tralee-based Altobridge, which is supplying the software, is also a major shareholder and there are options set aside for Mr Johnson and other managers.
All the company needs now is customers. That's in hand, too. Mr Johnson is expected to sign up its first customer in the next couple of weeks and negotiations with others are advancing.
Countdown on airport charges
After months of deliberations, countless consultants' reports and threats of legal action from Ryanair, aviation regulator Cathal Guiomard (above) will finally unveil his draft findings in relation to Dublin airport charges on Monday morning in the Conrad Hotel. The recommendations are about a month late.
The smart money is on his recommending a small increase in the passenger charge and additional rises phased in as Terminal 2 and other facilities come on stream. That presumes, of course, that An Bord Pleanála gives T2 the green light.
Some negative comment on the size and scale of T2 might also be in the offing.
Interested parties will have to wade through a 120-page document. If that doesn't appeal, Guiomard is believed to be considering making a 10-minute video summary of his findings available from the regulator's website.
Expect a short, sharp and testy response from Ryanair, which might find that it has an unlikely ally this time around in the form of the Dublin Airport Authority.
Conlon US real estate offerings tempt big hitters
If, like property moguls Gareth Kelleher, Paddy Kelly and Niall McFadden, you believe that investing in real estate in the United States is a good move, then you might want to get yourself along to the Berkeley Court Hotel on Wednesday morning for the breakfast launch of Conlon & Co.
The investment and development company is a joint venture between Kildare-born Seán Conlon and Dublin-based Investor First, which is run by accountant James Carroll.
Conlon has carved a successful niche for himself in real estate in the US. He runs Connaught Real Estate Finance, a mezzanine fund management business; Near North National Title, a title insurance company that processes more than $5.5 billion (€4.1 billion) worth of transactions a year; and Sussex & Reilly, a brokerage with 300 staff.
Investor First was founded by Carroll five years ago and has supported property deals worth about €400 million, most of them outside Ireland.
The new company has a number of interesting projects in its sights.
It is believed to be in discussions with a local player with a view to opening private hospitals in Mexico and the Dominican Republic for American patients who want speedy and cost-effective treatments and operations.
Conlon & Co is also close to tying up some retail and hotel deals in Chicago and is eyeing a 200-acre site in Florida that it would mine for sand and aggregates before establishing a residential development.
There are a number of attractions to investing in US real estate. Commercial property has made a small comeback over the past two years in the US and yields there are higher than in Ireland or most of Europe. The euro also remains strong against the dollar.
Breakfast is served at 7.30am and the great and good of Irish banking and private equity are expected.
Shannon workers' flight of fancy
Oh, to work for a semi-State company. In April, workers at Shannon airport agreed to accept a €36 million redundancy package from management to help turn around the loss-making Co Clare airport.
It offered an average €150,000 payout to the near 200 staff being let go, while the 300 left behind were to receive a €16,000 goodwill payment.
It was the type of package that most workers in the private sector would bite their employer's hand off to receive.
Just when management at Shannon thought they had the deal across the line, Siptu said it had one more demand - that departing staff should be allowed keep the free flights perk.
Airport staff in Dublin, Cork and Shannon are entitled to one free flight with Aer Lingus per year and the right to go on standby for other Aer Lingus flights. The perk was instituted years ago when it cost and arm and a leg to travel abroad. Shannon's management has told the workers to take a hike.
The Labour Relations Commission failed to yield a compromise at a hearing on Tuesday and the issue has now been kicked upstairs to the Labour Court.
IL&P's phoney war with BoS well and truly over
With David Went retiring from Irish Life & Permanent today, his wife Mary is no doubt planning some long, relaxing trips abroad for the couple.
With more time on his hands, Went will be able to make good use of the "bright red" Samsonite suitcase that Mark Duffy, Bank of Scotland's boss in Ireland, sent to him a few years back.
Went had earlier accused Duffy and BoS of being "suitcase bankers".
That was at a time when BoS sold mortgages here from a call centre in Scotland and before it opened an Irish branch network under the Halifax brand.
"It's a very nice suitcase," Went said, as part of an interview for today's paper (see page 5).
"It's very easy to pick out on the baggage carousel. I'll be eternally grateful to Mark for that."
The phoney war is well and truly over. BoS/Halifax distributes IL&P's investment products and the pair are also involved in property funds together.
"Business is business."
