Mr Denis O’Brien’s eIsland consortium has confirmed it has submitted a sweetened offer that values the company at almost euro 2.9 billion. EIsland is now offering euro 1.29 per share.
Shareholders also now have the option taking cash instead of the warrant proposed by eIsland earlier this week.
The group is offering euro 1.246 in cash plus the option of a warrant worth 5.8 cents or cash worth 4.6 cents.
Speaking on RTÉ this morning, Mr O'Brien said eIsland is now "way ahead" of Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Valentia consortium in the race for Eircom's fixed line business.
It has also emerged that the Comsource group which 35 per cent of Eircom will abstain from the vote on the preferred bid for the company.
Mr O'Brien said he is confident he can secure the 80 per cent of shareholder votes required to approve his bidwith or without the ESOT emplyee trust's support.
The board of Eircom said this morning it was seeking clarification from two rival bidders on details of their offers for the company.
The board met yesterday and considered revised proposals from eIsland and Sir Anthony O’Reilly’s Valentia consortiums.
"The board is seeking clarification on a number of issues included in the proposals and discussions are continuing with the relevant parties," the Eircom statement said today.
The statement gave no indication when it might make a recommendation to shareholders regarding the bids.