Dr Philip Nolan, chief executive of the quoted British infrastructure group Lattice, will decide in the next few days on an offer to join Eircom as chief executive.
Dr Nolan (47) has been approached by Valentia Telecommunications, the consortium that is in the closing stages of a €3 billion (£2.36 billion) takeover of Eircom. If he accepts, Dr Nolan is expected to seek a salary exceeding the £395,000 sterling (€643,000) he currently earns. Dr Nolan also has options over 587,435 shares in Lattice Group under a long-term incentive plan, and could expect to be compensated for giving them up. They are currently worth around £120,000, but could potentially earn him millions over the next few years.
London-based Lattice Group refused to comment yesterday and sources close to Dr Nolan said he had not yet made up his mind - and that it could be several days before he reached a decision. "It may not even be this week," said one source.
Northern Ireland-born and a geologist by training, Dr Nolan joined British Gas, the former parent of Lattice Group, in 1995. He became chief executive of Transco - the predecessor of Lattice - in 1998 and took up his present job when Transco was demerged from British Gas as the Lattice Group in October 2000. Lattice incorporated the telecommunications assets of British Gas as well as as Transco - which owned and operated the former British Gas pipeline network.
Dr Nolan's experience in building a broadband network on the back of the Transco network is one of his attractions for Valentia, which will be under pressure to deliver an enhanced broadband network. He also runs a heavily regulated utility and has been involved in restructuring the 15,000-strong workforce.
Eircom has been increasingly at odds with the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation in recent months. It will also have to shed job.
Before joining British Gas, Dr Nolan worked with BP. He joined the company as a geologist in 1981 from the University of Ulster, and rose to the position of managing director, Interconnector (UK), a consortium formed to construct and operate the pipeline linking the British gas network to continental Europe.
A graduate of Queens University in Belfast, Dr Nolan has a doctoral degree in geology and an MBA from the London Business School. He is married with two children.
Valentia will formally take control of Eircom in the next few weeks. Cheques will be sent out to selling shareholders at the end of this week, or early next week.
No immediate management changes are expected. Even if Dr Nolan accepts the post, he is unlikely to join until later this year. He will replace Mr Alfie Kane, the current chief executive, who is expected to leave once the handover is successfully completed. Mr Kane earns €482,500 (£380,000) a year and is entitled to one year's salary in compensation if he leaves the company following a takeover. He negotiated a top-up payment of €1.245 million towards his pension this year.
The only other senior appointment expected to be announced shortly is the position of deputy chairman. The Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT), which will own just under 30 per cent of Eircom, has the right to nominate the deputy chairman. It is expected that Dr Con Scanlon, the general secretary of the Communications Workers Union and chairman of the ESOT will be appointed.
Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the executive chairman of Independent News & Media is the non-executive chairman of Valentia.
