Monday December 1, 06:34 PM
Aer Lingus rejects new Ryanair bid
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DUBLIN (AFP) - Irish airline Aer Lingus (LSE: AERL.L - news) rejected Monday a 748-million-euro (950-million-dollar) cash takeover offer from Ryanair (Dublin: RY4.IR - news) , Europe's biggest budget airline.
"The board rejects this new offer and Aer Lingus shareholders are strongly advised to take no action in relation to the offer," the former national carrier's board said in a statement.
"Aer Lingus remains a strong business with significant cash reserves and a robust long-term future. The board believes that the offer significantly undervalues Aer Lingus," it added.
The Ryanair offer represented a premium of about 25 percent compared with the closing price for Aer Lingus shares on Friday.
The budget operator launched an unsuccessful takeover bid for Aer Lingus in October 2006 that valued its smaller rival at 1.481 billion euros.
The former Irish flag carrier posted an operating loss of 22.3 million euros for the first six months of 2008, compared with an operating profit of 2.6 million euros a year earlier.
In October, Aer Lingus had announced plans to save 74 million euros a year by cutting costs.
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