(MENAFN) Ryanair announced that it has made a new bid to acquire Aer Lingus in a deal that would value the carrier at USD880.7 million, through paying USD1.65 per share, reported AP.
The budget airline that owns 29.8 percent stake in Aer Lingus said that it can easily afford the new bid, as the carrier's cash reserves had increased 34 percent over the year to USD3.4 billion.
The Dublin-based carrier, which launched an aggressive takeover of Aer Lingus in 2006 directly after Ireland floated the state airline on the Irish and British stock exchanges, noted that if the proposal was approved, the two carriers will form one strong Irish airline group that will compete with other big airline groups in Europe.
The company expects Aer Lingus to increase its passenger traffic from 9.5 million passengers in 2011 to 14 million passengers within 5 years of acquisition.
It is worth noting that in 2006, the Irish government refused to sell its remaining 25 percent stake in Aer Lingus to Ryanair, and EU regulators blocked the bid on competition grounds, as a merged Ryanair-Aer Lingus operation would control over 80 percent of Ireland's air passenger traffic.
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