Australian private equity firm Babcock & Brown, which is bidding €2.4bn ($3bn) for Irish telecoms group Eircom, is lining up Pierre Danon, a senior adviser at JP Morgan and former chief operating officer at consultancy Cap Gemini, for a prominent role.

The Irish Times reported today that Eircom's board met last night to discuss the takeover approach by Babcock and the worker-controlled trust that holds 21.5% of the company's shares, adding that the go-ahead for due diligence is imminent.