Hutchison tries to block Eircom plan Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong conglomerate controlled by Li Ka-shing, and a fund linked to Brevan Howard, one of the world's largest hedge funds, are battling for control of telecoms operator Eircom by challenging the Irish telecoms" examiner's decision to reject Hutchison's €2bn bid . Eircom received court protection in late March to restructure €4.1bn of gross debt in a process known as examinership. Senior lenders, including Blackstone, Deutsche Bank and hedge funds, have won the backing of Eircom's management for a bid in which most lower-ranked lenders and shareholders would be wiped out and ownership transferred to the senior lenders. But Hutchison has teamed up with junior lenders led by DW Investment Management - a New York-based arm of Brevan Howard - which is representing 52.4 per cent of creditors holding €350m in floating-rate loan notes in a court action to halt the process. In an affidavit, Hutchison alleges a "significant failure on part of examiner" Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton in his duties. Hutchison is seeking to be allowed to conduct due diligence on Eircom and proceed with its bid. Along with the junior lenders, it also wants postponement of a creditors" meeting scheduled for Friday, which is due to agree the survival plan from Eircom management and senior lenders. At Dublin's commercial court on Wednesday, Hutchison alleged that Eircom and the senior lenders had engaged in a "lock-up agreement" around the time of the appointment of the examiner, preventing Eircom from exploring alternatives. This and the "inaction" of the examiner had prevented Hutchison from being successful with its offer and guaranteed the success of the proposals advanced by senior lenders, it alleged. Hutchison said there was concern that the examinership was being run in the interests of some creditors rather than of creditors as whole. The senior lenders" plan, to be put forward for agreement at Friday's meeting, would involve about €1.7bn in debt being written off. These senior lenders would take a 15 per cent "haircut" on their overall €2.7bn debts. Lower-ranked lenders have been offered €35m - about 10 per cent of their debts. Mr McAteer rejected the allegations made by Hutchison and the junior debtholders. Papers filed with the court showed he was not party to any lock-up agreement or bound by its terms, he said. He had been willing to consider alternative investment proposals at all times, he said. Hutchison's interest emerged 20 days after the examinership period began, a relatively late stage with regard to the likely regulatory and competition issues that would arise if a bid were accepted, Mr McAteer added.