Soros a knight in Shamrock ardour

Financier George Soros and Irish press baron Sir Anthony O'Reilly have teamed up to make a £1.7bn white knight bid for Irish telco Eircom.

The move is likely to spark a hard fought bidding war with two other consortia expected to make a pitch for Eircom in what could be the first in a string of telco takeovers, caused by the general downturn in share prices. The Soros-backed consortium is made up of a number of companies which had all separately been considering a bid - Providence Equity Partners, Warburg Pincus and Soros' private equity vehicle. Other bidders are Irish entrepreneur Denis O'Brian's Elsland and International Investments and Underwriting. Sweden's Telia and debt-ridden Dutch telco KPN hold a 35 per cent stake in Eircom with the employee Share Option Scheme accounting for another 15 per cent.