Eircom ESOP: when's our next windfall?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Good idea Drinky....We could do this straight away too. Are you still in the company? Does anyone know what the feeling on the ground is in there and do people have any forum for expressing their views.....Someone mentioned the Intranet in Eircom on here....
Evertondub and all other disgruntled ex eircom (including myself) - Heading towards 500,000 on the dole - people losing their livelihoods on a daily basis and no prospects of finding work. Can we please stop *****ing about this - I'm just as annoyed with esop but I'm still getting 2k and I for one would be ashamed to complain to the public about this. I have financial worries as well but I consider myself very fortunate to have guaranteed employment.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Sarge.....re your quote...
I have financial worries as well but I consider myself very fortunate to have guaranteed employment.
I don't understand the releavance of this to the situation with ESOP....I too am fortunate enough to be earning and appreciate it. My disgruntlement with ESOP is that I believe that that the board is not acting in the best interests of me and people like me and it would seem many others feel the same. Maybe you have a different view, or as you say, would feel ashamed to express your true thoughts and feelings about it all and that's fair enough,I respect that. Perhaps you'd be good enough to afford me and others the same respect.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Understand where your coming from Sarge but all we want is what we are entitled to and what was paid for in various cuts and work practices. The current state of eircom is a debt of 4billion. Do you want more shares in a huge debt. I dont. I want out as do most others.

Drinky any chance can you start the online petition through the new thread.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

I have financial worries as well but I consider myself very fortunate to have guaranteed employment.

Ditto....

....but this was our last guranteed payout - our worry is that the board seem to be doing whatever they like without listening to our point of view by at least taking decisions that involve each and every one of us to a vote.

Maybe we should take an optimistic point of view and keep our fingers crossed that, looking to the future, it turns out to be a worthwhile decision.

It's the lack of communication from ESOP that is what frustrates us the most!
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Drinky any chance can you start the online petition through the new thread.

Alfaphil, let me look into setting up a basic website over the weekend instead. I thought that an online petition via this forum might be a good idea initially, but after giving it more consideration I feel that we should keep it seperate and leave a 'third party' forum such as 'askaboutmoney' out of it ;)

I'll update you all on Monday
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Sarge.....re your quote...
I don't understand the releavance of this to the situation with ESOP....I too am fortunate enough to be earning and appreciate it. My disgruntlement with ESOP is that I believe that that the board is not acting in the best interests of me and people like me and it would seem many others feel the same. Maybe you have a different view, or as you say, would feel ashamed to express your true thoughts and feelings about it all and that's fair enough,I respect that. Perhaps you'd be good enough to afford me and others the same respect.
Evertondub - apologies for not replying earlier - I would have thought that the current economic situation is relevant to esop - hence the reduced allocation. All I am saying is that I would feel embarassed standing outside esops office and explaining to the curious passing public that they are only giving me 2k. How would that look to recent and continuous unemployed on 6pm news? I agree with most of the points already made - just trying to keep things in perspective.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Mebbe some should be returned to the original owner of the business - the PAYE taxpayer.
We could provide Scanners , Carer's Allowance, Hospices, etc.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Any rumours of a christmas payout yet? I have the 29c spent & the cheque not even here yet . . . . . . !
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Employee share trust supports STT bid for Eircom
extracts from
[broken link removed]

With the Esop owning 35 per cent of Eircom, STT has now moved into pole position in the race to acquire the Irish business from Sydney-listed parent Eircom Holdings.
In a bulletin issued to members late yesterday, Jerome Barrett, chairman of the Esop, said: “The Esop board recently considered a request from Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) to support their bid on an exclusive basis for a period of time. The Esop board has agreed to this.”

It is understood that the Esop, which has about 14,000 members, wants to secure a long-term investor for Eircom and sees an industry player as the best strategic option. It is likely that the Esop would retain a large stake in Eircom if STT’s bid is successful.
The trust recently withheld just under €50 million in dividend payments to its members to build a war chest for any possible involvement in a bid for Eircom. It was reported to have had reserves of €100 million previously.

An industry player is likely to take a longer term view when assessing strategic goals and investment priorities compared with a private equity player, which would have a three- to five-year horizon in terms of netting a return on its investment.

Founded in 1994, STT specialises in mobile communications. It is a 75 per cent investor in Asia Mobile Holdings, which has mobile interests in Singapore, Laos and Cambodia. It also owns Global Crossing, the fibre-optic cable firm with operations in Ireland.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Interesting move. As usual the staff communication they refer to came after we all went home yesterday!

Sarge,

I think you are missing the point slightly. Yes people are annoyed they didn't get their full allocation but I think they are more annoyed at the ESOP board for not keeping us informed. If they were more forthcoming with what they were doing and why they were doing it i.e. protecting the rest of our investment in the event of a hostile takeover etc people might be more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I personally feel if they are using what is essentially my money to fund something the least they can do is tell me what they are doing and why they are doing it. In all probability this money will be given to us at a later date (if it is not needed to fund a takeover) i.e. December but how are we supposed to know that as again they tell us nothing.

As a past employee you have stopped paying for your shares. I as a current employee will probably end up paying all the share money back by the time I retire. 5.3% of my wages has been taken every week for the last 10 years and will be for the next 25. Our bonuses, overtime, mileage allowances etc have all been done away with or slashed aggressively. There is no clear career progression and very little scope for training. Moral is at an all time low and we have job cuts, pay cuts etc all to look forward to so forgive me if I don't give a flying fig what the general public think. The media has never given a balanced report in relation to our shares. They always say we got the shares for nothing.

cerberos,

The taxpayer was one of the biggest winners in the sale of eircom. The government made more money out of the company than anyone else. They cashed out and left the table so they are no longer in the game. It is my understanding that they got billions from the sale and plugged it into the state pension fund (which I read somewhere is now being used to bail out the banks). It was their mishandling of the sale which caused a lot of the problems we have today. They overvalued the company at the launch and this together with KPN/Telia bailing out shortly after resulted in the first of a number of opportunistic takeovers, each one stripping out more and more of the assets and landing us more and more in debt. Yes, the ESOP benefited from the subsequent sales but it doesn't mean we have to like what has happened to the company.
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

eircom esop has become its own little company keeping a building and its own workers laying out money to the rothschield ashurst and merrion it spends money on glossy magazines (in this day and age) and does not ask its share holders which way it should go foreward it is so undemocratic i wonder do any of them look at askaboutmoney
 
Just proves that Unions are the same as the "Capitalists" they despise. Every 1 is out for themselves and Social Justice is all talk.
The taxpayer was basically robbed by the management and unions, even David Begg regrets what happened.

Thats history and we need to remember lest history repeats itself (and it looks like it is with Nama, banks and developers)
 
The unions have done well out of Esop but so have employees and ex employees of Eircom(like me).

I applaud the unions for having foresight to negotiate Esop way back in mid nineties although there does now seem to be some issues in communicating with members.
For example,I was on Esop website and it still hasn't updated with latest Esop Extra that was sent out in the post which is frustating as I'm based in Australia and this is only means of keeping up to date with latest developments.

The taxpayer has also done well out of Eircom-$8.8 billion was raised in 1999 from listing of Eircom which is only a fraction of what its' worth now.

The big losers were the people who bought Eircoms' shares when it listed on market in 1999(including me)
 
Re: eircom esop when's our next windfall?

Employee share trust supports STT bid for Eircom
extracts from
[broken link removed]


Intesesting news.

I checked the BCM website but no updates on it.

BCM have also not sent us any information on shareholder meeting but they indicated previously that they would be returning cash reserves to shareholders in July.

STT would seem to be the best strategic fit for Eircom who with all the doom and gloom out there are still a very profitable company.
 
Vincent, if the tone of your (5!!) emails is anything like your last post I'm not surprised you didn't get a reply. I think myself that a deal with STT could work out quite well. STT previously bought Global Crossing, and were able to negotiate the bond holders into writing down a lot of the loans the had made. Granted, we don't get as much money this month as we thought we would, but we could end up a lot better in the long run.
 
Whoah Lads and Ladies your all missing the point. This was the last guaranteed allocation and it has been taken away to buy more of the 4 billion euro debt that eircom is. Does anyone see the sense in that. It is also as quoted in the newsletter being used to fund ESOP operations i.e. lining the pockets of those who have forgotten the grassroots (that is us). Don't be fooled. There are a handful of people making big money on our backs.

Dr1nky any luck with that petition. Don't let this drop.

P.S. i sent a civilised email but got no reply.
 
Looking at the Sydney Business Post and Financial Times,it looks like STT are going to make a formal bid for Eircom Holdings this week(possibly 2day Tuesday)

Interesting times ahead
 
Dr1nky any luck with that petition. Don't let this drop.

I haven't forgotten, don't worry - was busy the weekend but will try and get it sorted this week for sure!

On another note, it should be interesting to see what happens with the STT bid!
 
I contacted the esot not so long ago with my views regarding the composition of eircom's board.
I never took any cash distribution as being "promised"

June 2008
"When will the ESOP be making future Distributions?
There are no certainties in these matters, as participants will have come to understand. However,
barring unforeseen events, and as long as the Trustee continues to meet its obligations under the
terms of the Ulster Bank loan, the ESOP is hopeful that it can make further distributions to participants.
Following this distribution, the last remaining tranche of BCMIH Preference Shares will be
due to be redeemed in June 2009."

November 2007
"When will the ESOP be making future Distributions?
There are no certainties in these matters, as participants will have come to understand. However,
barring unforeseen events, and as long as the Trustee continues to meet its obligations under the
terms of the Ulster Bank loan, the ESOP is hopeful that it can make further distributions to
participants . As advised in ESOP Extra 16, there are two remaining tranches of BCMIH
Preference Shares which are due to be redeemed in 2008 and 2009."
My own view is , as stated earlier, an investment with STT seems to be the best option for the Trust and its members. I suspect that people who want their jam today ate it yesterday!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top