INM general meeting to address O’Brien’s proposals for group

TELECOM billionaire Denis O’Brien will try to unseat the chairman of Independent News & Media at a showdown general meeting of the company’s shareholders on November 3.

Mr O’Brien, INM’s second largest individual shareholder with a near 26% stake, is in a bitter battle with the O’Reilly clan, which owns 29% of the company, for control of Ireland’s largest private media company.

INM has been struggling since May to pay off €200 million in debts to bondholders . And just as chief executive Gavin O’Reilly seems to have figured out a solution to the impasse, Mr O’Brien unveils a rival plan which could see him take control of the company from the O’Reillys and come to a settlement with the bondholders.