Ryanair says won't accept IAG offer for Aer Lingus until mid-August

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair does not intend to formally accept a bid for its 30 percent stake in Aer Lingus until mid-August, weeks after an offer by British Airways owner IAG expires, a Ryanair spokesman said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, IAG extended the deadline for the offer to 1200 GMT on Thursday, July 30, saying it needed 90 percent of Aer Lingus shareholders to accept.

The Irish government formally accepted the offer to sell its 25 percent in mid-July.

"We don’t expect to receive any proceeds from the sale of our stake in Aer Lingus until September and so we plan to formally submit our signed acceptance of the IAG offer in mid-August," Ryanair said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for IAG said the company would put out a regulatory statement in due course.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Mark Potter)