Organo stake in UTV rises to 16%

ORGANO Investments – one of the investment vehicles owned by Irish financiers Neill Hughes and Peter Crowley – has increased its stake in UTV Media, to more than 16%.

Organo began its investment in the broadcaster and media group last year, by buying a 6.6% stake.

The company has been steadily increasing its stake in UTV since then. By the end of last November, Organo had control of 11.4% of the group. The last time the company was obliged to report to the market, it had reached a 14.3% shareholding.

Following its most recent share purchase, Organo now holds more than 15.6 million shares in UTV, compared to just over 14.25m at the end of March.

Meanwhile, UTV’s largest single shareholder, TVC Holdings – which owns about 18% of the group recently announced more than €60m had been wiped off the value of its assets in its last financial year, due to falling share values on the Irish Stock Exchange.

UTV and the anti-money laundering software provider, Norkom Technologies are TVC’s main two assets.