Eircom boss to retire

EIRCOM suffered another blow yester- day as boss Paul Donovan announced his retirement, with days before the company enters into examinership.

He will step down at the end of 2012, and is citing personal reasons for his decision.

Mr Donovan’s decision comes as the telecoms company is expected, within days, to ask the High Court, to appoint Grant Thornton as an examiner.

The move will pave the way for the biggest corporate insolvency in the history of the State.

Mr Donovan said yesterday: ‘It has been a privilege to lead Eircom. The role of CEO requires a new multi-year commitment which I am not in a position to make. In the coming months my focus will be on ensuring that the necessary foundations are in place for a successor to lead the company into the next phase of its development,’

The company is entering the final stage of restructuring its €3.7billion in debts.

Eircom is currently operating under a waiver from lenders after breaching its banking covenants last year. The waiver expires on Saturday. Before joining Eircom in 2009, Mr Donovan ran Vodafone’s global portfolio of businesses in the U.S., India, China, eastern Europe, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand.

He helped broker the deal that saw ST Telemedia get a controlling interest in Eircom in 2010. The company employs 5,000 staff.