High Court judge Mr Justice Peter Kelly has confirmed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton chartered accountants as examiner to Eircom’s companies Eircom Ltd, Meteor Mobile Communications and Irish Telecommunications Investments Ltd.
The three companies applied for examinership in the High Court on 29 March and the following day Kelly appointed McAteer as interim examiner.
The examiner informed the court he has set a deadline of 23 April 2012 for any interested parties to express an interest in a sales process. If required, this process will be managed by Morgan Stanley.
It is the examiner’s intention that impaired creditors will be notified of his proposal for Eircom as a going concern by Friday, 11 May 2012, Eircom said in a statement. Creditor meetings will then be held the following week.
The court will be informed of the results of these meetings as soon as practicable and it is hoped a confirmation hearing will conclude the proceedings before the end of May, well in advance of the statutory maximum length for an examinership process of 100 days, Eircom said.
Examinership protects Eircom from its creditors as it works to put in place a viable plan to save the company’s future.
Eircom employs 5,000 people and is €3.7bn in debt.
