Geoghegan keeps a base in Ireland with DAA role

IT was a quite a coup for the DAA, operator of Dublin Airport and Cork Airport, to secure the services of Basil Geoghegan, whose appointment as chairman designate was announced last week.

Geoghegan is a first-rate dealmaker. His previous roles include managing director positions at Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, as well as Citigroup. He advised on some of very high-profile Irish deals, including the €1.6bn Avolon IPO, the Aer Lingus flotation and the Valentia takeover of Eircom.

He took over the role of chairman of the Ireland Fund of Great Britain, from the late Peter Sutherland some years ago. The world is Geoghegan’s stage, so why would he have put himself through the public appointments process, with an interview and all that entails for the DAA roles?

Perhaps he believes he may have something more to offer his country, just as Sutherland did.

IPL Plastics — formerly known as One51 — has given some more insights into its business ahead its Canadian listing, which is expected to happen next month.

It has revealed that it has over 5,300 customers, including some impressive household names. Some of its largest customers include Danone, the Kraft Heinz Company, Lowe’s, Nestle, Parmalat, Pepsico, Smucker’s, Unilever and Home Depot.

Despite growing concerns about the impact of plastic on the environment, the preliminary prospectus outlines why there are several opportunities for the sector and reasons why some businesses may use more plastics.

Among the further growth areas are electric cars. According to the documentation, CEO Alan Walsh and his team hold high hopes for its plastic packaging for lithium batteries.

“Management expects the shift within the automotive industry to mass-market electric cars to drive continued demand growth for lithium batteries, and indirectly, plastic packaging.” Let’s see if IPL’s co-op shareholders wait around to see if this electric car craze takes off.