What are the signs that a public company might be going private?

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kitty81

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Does anyone have any information about the possible signs of the privatisation of a company. What sort of changes would prompt the suspicion?
 
Are you referring to flotation?

This is where a privately owned company offers its shares to the public and seeks a quote on the stock exchange.

There is usually speculation about this before it happens.

The other signs would be funds taking stakes in the company or the company being much more conscious of its public image. If you are in the finance department, you might see the financial reporting being a bit less conservative so the company looks more profitable.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Privatisation is where a state owned company such as Telecom Eireann becomes a stock market company.

Is that what you are talking about?

The changes would be the Minister for Finance talking about it and Sinn Féin opposing it.

Brendan
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Before it became the obvious commonoly known direction, would changes be happening in the public company to 'prepare' it for privatisation?
 
It would be very unusual for such things to be happening without any political discussion. The first hint might well be political discussion. You might see appointments of board members or a CEO who would be particularly friendly to that approach, or maybe even with a track record in doing it. If you have employee nominees on the board of the organisation, they might be able to share some general views, though they won't be able to breach board confidentiality. Your trade union should be a good source of information too.
 
Thank you for the info. The company is currently employing a number of external people to newly formed senior roles along with employing externally for some existing senior roles, splitting the company into 'Groups'. There is just speculation at the moment amongst the employees
 
kitty81 said:
Sorry, I was not clearer- I am referring to a public organisation going private.
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You would need to be more specific as the wording used is confusing.

There are three types of company
1) A state company such as Born na Mona or Eirgrid
2) A publicly quoted company such as CRH plc or Ryanair plc
3) A private company such as Brendan Burgess limited

Which are you referring to?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
You would need to be more specific as the wording used is confusing.

There are three types of company
1) A state company such as Born na Mona or Eirgrid
2) A publicly quoted company such as CRH plc or Ryanair plc
3) A private company such as Brendan Burgess limited

Which are you referring to?
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Does it help to say its a semi-state company?!
 
A semi-state company would be in the state company category.

I don't think that there is any talk of privatisations at the moment. Maybe Coillte?

They could reorganise the company in advance with a view to putting parts of it into a subsidiary which would be profitable and which could be privatised.

Brendan
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
DAA, ESB, VHI, perhaps.

No one would touch anything in the CIÉ group or the airports outside Dublin.
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How under funded are the pension funds in those companies?
That seems to be the main reason for privatisation. The money raised from the privatisation of Telecom Eireann went into the employee pension fund. When they were Civil Servants their pensions were funded through general taxation so once they became a semi-State there was a massive unfunded liability. In effect Telecom Eireann was sold and all the money was given to the employees.

The CIE group has a deficit of over €1 billion now. Will they be next?
 
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