O'Reilly and Soros set for media link-up

TONY O'REILLY and US billionaire investor George Soros are teaming up to make a major media acquisition in Europe.

Dr O'Reilly has also rekindled his interest in the Australian publisher John Fairfax Holdings, which he lost to the well-known media tycoon Conrad Black in a bidding war 11 years ago.

Mr Soros and Dr O'Reilly are currently business partners through Eircom. The Independent News & Media boss is chairman of Valentia, the consortium which bought Eircom last year. One of the investors in Valentia is Soros Private Equity.