O’Reilly hints at board changes at Independent Media

INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) chief executive Gavin O’Reilly has hinted that a number of board changes may happen in the not-too-distant future, in the wake of the group finally concluding the terms of its financial restructuring project.

Speaking after yesterday’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) – where shareholders formally approved the sale of the group’s South African-based outdoor advertising company, INM Outdoor, and gave the go-ahead for a rights issue to pay off the remainder of the debt from the €200 million bond the business owed – Mr O’Reilly said that management was committed to carrying out “refreshments” to the board in the “next short while”.

Indeed, the group yesterday made one new board appointment – in the form of German media giant, Axel Springer AG’s chief financial officer/chief operating officer, Lothar Lanz; who has joined INM as a non-executive director. Former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke is set to retire from his post of non-executive director at the end of the year.