Debt-for-equity plan would result in no clear winner

MEDIA reports may eventually paint Denis O’Brien as the main “loser” from Independent News & Media’s proposed debt- for-equity restructuring plan, should it formally go through in the coming weeks.

However, in reality, it could easily be argued that there are no clearly identifiable winners either, no matter how much we’re led to believe that a successful restructuring would mean a moral victory for the O’Reilly family and an illustration of INM chief executive Gavin O’Reilly’s negotiating skills.

In reality both sides will have lost close to €1 billion on their investment in INM and with that score line there can be no winners, only losers.