The beginning of a new era at INM, says biggest critic

PEACE has seemingly broken out between the leading shareholders in Independent News & Media (INM), with Denis O’Brien welcoming the prospect of Gavin O’Reilly becoming the new chief executive of the group and hailing yesterday’s wide-reaching board change proposals as “the beginning of a new era” at INM.

Mr O’Brien — who is the second largest shareholder in INM with a 26% stake — has been a fierce critic of the board for some time and a leading lobbyist for a smaller board featuring fewer business associates of Tony O’Reilly. Now, he not only has his wish but also real representation on the board through three of his own business associates in Lucy Gaffney, Leslie Buckley (both founding directors, along with Mr O’Brien of the Digicel international telecommunications group) and former Esat Telecom director Paul Connolly.

That move, alone, shows how much has changed at INM in the past year. At last summer’s annual general meeting, in London, Gavin O’Reilly said that given the manner in which Mr O’Brien had gone about building his shareholding in the group, it was unlikely that he would be permitted a seat on the board if he were to seek one. Prior to that meeting, INM management also dubbed Mr O’Brien a “dissident shareholder”, claiming his stake-building was aimed at destabilising the company.