irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0703/1214949347354.html
When the smartest guy in the Room starts looking for spare cash you know the crash is begining to bite.
Raised 40m
For how many weeks will that cover the interest?
Maybe he’s just found a better way of investing the €40m
-Rd
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Like a bridge in Manhattan ?
Ahhh lads, there is no need for sarcasm. There are probably loads of better places to put €40m than in Aer Lingus. Sure when he invested there were probably loads of better places to put €60m.
It reminds me of a joke. How do you make a small fortune? Begin with a huge fortune and start an airline.
It is possible that he is just cutting his losses and moving on. I have seen on other threads mentions that Carroll bought sites at relatively low prices years ago. Is there any reason to suggest that he is geared to the extent that he needs to liquidate investments to cover his interest?
Indeed - something about 2,500 apartments which he hasn’t shifted.
Can you point to a source for that please? I’m interested in it.
Nothing official - it’s from an insider.
I presume that they all come with glued on baclonies as standard 
Can that be true?
2500 x 300k (say the average for each apartment) = €750,000,000
I think my calculator just melted.
What would be the cost to build 2500 apartments??
MAYBE €313million
if he’s willing to take less than half price on his shares
we could see some very cheap apartments coming on the market
initech wrote:
That’s a quote from Branson of Virgin Atlantic. When asked the fastest way to become a millionaire, he replied: start out as a billionaire and go into the airline industry.
Generally Bob Crandall (former CEO of American Airlines) is said to have originated that quote. He is also reputed to have said following deregulation in the US “A lot of people came into the airline business. Most of them promptly exited, minus their money”.
Whoah, he chose not to shift them over the years but to let them out instead .
He is a massive landlord …maybe the biggest in Dublin .
I think council is biggest.
I don’t know how MO’L can be happy these days.
He’s facing many problems with Ryanair. They’re being forced to buy boeings and expand the company and I have my doubts about their trans-atlantic endeavours. Not to mention high oil prices, dwindling consumer demand, bad publicity and an ISEQ listing.
Indeed, wasting cash buying Aer Lingus at the top of the market. Now wasting more buying into Aer Lingus again, I hope he is not trying to average out. It will be a bad day for the Irish air traveller if Ryanair are allowed to take over Aer Lingus.
A Ryanair buy back at the top of the market.
Betting that oil would drop and consequently not hedging.
No longer a case that everything he touches turns to gold.
It was 3.5 million shares at €1.24 or so, less than €4.5m spent. I’m not sure what his play is here, but it wasn’t that expensive anyway.
The oil decision could prove to be disastrous, but I think it’s being overdone at the moment and they’ll get another opportunity to hedge again at a decent price. In the meantime though, it is pretty painful for them.
And share buybacks I just think are daft, they line the pockets of shareholders who sell, not those who hold.