Ireland's eircom decides against public listing for now

* Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) , Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) advised on possible IPO

* eircom says wants to focus on business momentum (Adds detail)

DUBLIN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Irish telecoms firm eircom said on Friday it did not intend to proceed with a stock market listing "at this time" because key shareholders hoped to earn better returns on their investment in the future.

The Dublin-based firm, which filed for protection from creditors just two years ago, said last month it was seeing early signs of commercial momentum amid stabilising earnings.

eircom appointed investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in April to advise on a possible initial public offering, which would be the former state-owned company's third flotation in 15 rollercoaster years.

"As highlighted at our full year results, there are encouraging signs of positive momentum in the business. Our primary focus over the coming months will be to accelerate this momentum," the telecoms firm said in a statement.

"We have discussed this decision with our key shareholders. These shareholders expressed their clear preference to continue participating in the upside from the significant network investment made in recent years, which has only recently begun to manifest itself in the company's financial results."

Chief Financial Officer Richard Moat, part of a new management team appointed two years ago, said last month that while eircom had yet to see the positive impact of encouraging economic data flowing through to its numbers, they soon would.

Data on Thursday showed Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) 's economy grew a whopping 7.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the fastest growth rate in the euro zone, as employment jumped, exports rebounded and consumers began to spend again.

The Irish telecoms company has had a chequered history with flotations.

Its foray into privatisation in 1999 saw shares collapse after an initial public offering marketed as a one-way bet to the Irish public. It was bought out two years later by a consortium led by former Irish media tycoon Tony O'Reilly.

It built up its unsustainable debts during a series of changes of ownership and briefly refloated in 2004, again lasting two years before delisting as Ireland's credit-fuelled boom ran out of steam and a financial crisis enveloped it.

After filing for creditor protection to restructure 3.75 billion euros ($4.8 billion) of debt in 2012, eircom was taken over by its senior lenders - including 24-percent shareholder, U.S. buyout firm Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) .

The examinership - akin to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in the United States and administration in Britain - was the largest in Irish corporate history and saw nearly all of the company's junior debt wiped out.

($1 = 0.7790 Euros) (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by David Clarke)