IDA has bumper year as jobs flow in
IDA Ireland was one of the biggest winners of 1997. Up until the Seagate closure, the year had been one of almost constant good news announcements first for Fine Gael minister Richard Bruton and later for his successor, Mary Harney.
Among the major projects established were IBM's giant plant in Blanchardstown and Hewlett-Packard's plant in Leixlip, which is just down the road from the everexpanding Intel facility.
Top projects announced during the year included further jobs at Hewlett-Packard, a 650-job expansion at Baush and Lomb in Waterford, and a massive 2,000-job investment by Boston Scientific in Cork and Galway.
Other major companies to make investments in Ireland included Netscape Communications and Compaq Computers and a string of international companies setting up teleservicing operations.
New Ireland boss has many options
New Ireland managing director Jack Casey is one of the main beneficiaries of the takeover of the life assurance company by Bank of Ireland. He has options to buy 125,000 New Ireland shares at 250p per share. With the takeover putting a value of £23.82 per share, Mr Casey will make a profit of £2.67 million when he exercises his options.
In addition, he retains his position as managing director of New Ireland on an annual salary of £187,500 plus a performance-related bonus, a company car and life assurance cover. His service contract with New Ireland was signed on June 6th, 1996, and requires two years notice for termination.
New Ireland executive directors Enda O'Brien and Jim Gallivan were also winners after the takeover. Both men have options to buy 40,000 New Ireland shares at 250p per share giving them a profit of £853,000 each when they exercise their options. Each man also has a service contract giving him an annual salary of £110,000, a performance-related bonus, company car and life assurance.
PPermanent, Farrell settle differences
Both the Irish Permanent and its former managing director, Ed Farrell, may feel they "won" from the settlement of the court case earlier in the year.
Dr Farrell kept his house - although Bank of Ireland have a charge on it. Meanwhile, the Irish Permanent is to receive £150,000 and ownership of a condominium in Boston worth £100,000. For both sides a key motivation in settling will have been to avoid a long and contentious court battle.
Having pursued Dr Farrell for so long, it was somewhat surprising that the Irish Permanent dropped the case. And it also settled an action against former adviser Kelvin Smythe; in the latter case the terms were not disclosed. Don't the banks shareholders have a right to know the terms of this settlement too?
Shining Esat must keep up good work
The fast-moving telecommunications sector created a couple of real winners. Chief among these were the main shareholders in Esat Telecom, which floated successfully on Nasdaq valuing Denis O'Brien's shareholding at £30 million.
Mr O'Brien knows, of course, that maintaining this paper value on his shareholding and growing it will depend on the continued success of Esat Telecom and its affiliate, Esat Digifone, which operates the second mobile phone licence.
Both are capital-intensive businesses which require a high level of investment and no little risk in the hope of major returns in the medium term.
And with industry giants like British Telecom and WorldCom also seeking a slice of the Irish market, Esat Telecom will have to work hard to position itself for the full liberalisation of the Irish market in two years time.
WorldCom's entry into the Irish market, meanwhile, provided a windfall for the shareholders of TCL Telecom. The consideration was never revealed, but chairman and founder Sean Melly may have received over £6 million from the deal.
Flotations create new millionaires
The computer technology sector was the other big contributor to the millionaires club. A range of flotations and sales created a new wave of millionaires.
Iona Technologies, one of the longer-established "tech" companies floated on the Nasdaq and later in Dublin. While the shares have struggled a bit, the company's founder Chris Horn still remains a multimillionaire on paper. Meanwhile, Jaye Murray, chairman of Aldiscon, is believed to have received over £23 million for the sale of his stake in the telecommunications firm.
Other technology companies also saw a value put on their years of work and innovation through market quotes. Among those listing included Rapid Technology and BCO Technologies. Biotechnology company Biotrin is scheduled for a 1998 listing.
Using their loaf to make £40m
You don't have to be in high-tech business to make a million pounds. Among the other big winners of 1997 were Pat Loughrey and Ronan McNamee of Cuisine de France, who shared a tasty £40 million following a takeover by IAWS, leading to the inevitable jokes about "bread" and "dough". And David McKenna of Marlborough Recruitment saw his shareholding valued at over £10 million after the company floated, while Carol Moffett received £11 million from the sale of Moffett Engineering to Powerscreen.
Woodchester boss collects £6.7m
Woodchester chairman and chief executive Craig McKinney was one of the big winners in 1997.
Mr McKinney got some £6.73 million for his 2.56 million Woodchester shares when French shareholder Credit Lyonnais sold out to GE Capital and the US company made a similar offer of 263p per share to the remaining Woodchester shareholders. In addition, Mr McKinney's share options were worth £800,000.
Mr McKinney set up Woodchester 20 years ago. It started as an office equipment leasing operation and grew to become a publicly-quoted bank. The troubled French bank, Credit Lyonnais, owned 53 per cent of Woodchester.
GAA gets £20m to help with Croker
A late entry to the winner's category is the venerable Gaelic Athletic Association, which is to get £20 million from the Government over the next three years to help towards the redevelopment of Croke Park.
Having received £5 million from Bertie Ahern when he was finance minister, the GAA has every reason to favour Fianna Fail-led administrations.
