Ryanair makes third bid for Aer Lingus Irish budget airline Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary Ryanair has made an audacious third attempt at taking over Aer Lingus, Ireland's flag carrier. The Irish low-cost carrier unveiled an all-cash offer of €1.3 per Aer Lingus share on Tuesday, valuing the airline's equity at €694m, or a 38.3 per cent premium to its closing stock price. Since Aer Lingus's flotation in 2006, Ryanair has mounted two takeover bids for the flag carrier, but both failed after objections by the Irish government and the European Commission. This week, the UK Competition Commission announced an investigation into Ryanair's 29.8 per cent stake in Aer Lingus because of concerns that the shareholding may be damaging competition. Ryanair argued that circumstances had "changed materially" since its first unsuccessful bid for Aer Lingus in 2006, highlighting consolidation involving European flag carriers and the Irish government's plan to sell its 25 per cent stake. Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Europe's largest low-cost carrier by revenue, said: "This offer represents a significant opportunity to combine Aer Lingus with Ryanair to form one strong Irish airline group capable of competing with Europe's other major airline groups led by Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa." In an attempt to persuade the competition authorities to clear the new bid, Ryanair pitched its offer as "pro-consumer." It proposed to run its low-cost carrier separately from Aer Lingus, to maintain the two brands. Aer Lingus declined to comment on Ryanair's new bid. Gerald Khoo, analyst at Espirito Santo, said the antitrust issues may have moved in Ryanair's favour since 2006. "But it is far from clear Ryanair will be able to secure clearance from the authorities," he added. Two analysts said the Irish government would probably reject Ryanair's new bid after declaring last year it would oppose the low-cost carrier buying the state's 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus. The government has held discussions about selling its stake to Etihad, the fast-growing Gulf carrier that in May announced it had bought a 3 per cent stake in Aer Lingus. Ryanair has been engaged in an acrimonious confrontation with Aer Lingus, demanding payment of a dividend and complaining about several issues including the pension scheme, which has a large deficit. In May, Aer Lingus announced it would pay a dividend for the first time since its flotation. Aer Lingus reported revenue of €1.3bn for the year to December 31, up 6 per cent, and pre-tax profit of €84.4m, compared with €27.2m in 2010. It had net cash of €445.9m at March 31.