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.

Independent News & Media (INM) has today convened an extraordinary general meeting for 11am on November 3.

DENIS O’BRIEN has effectively launched a bid for outright control of Independent News & Media (INM).

SHARES in Independent News & Media (INM) fell by nearly 15%, yesterday, on the back of further speculation that the group’s management is close to offering investors a stake of more than 40% in the group.

INDEPENDENT News and Media (INM) has signed a lucrative £40 million (€45m) deal to take on the printing of the Irish editions of two of the biggest selling British daily newspapers.

ADVISORS to Denis O’Brien have called for Independent News & Media (INM) to sell its loss-making London-based newspaper titles – claiming that they are losing €27 million per year/€75,000 per day.

DENIS O’BRIEN has hit back at Independent News & Media’s (INM’s) planned sale of its South African outdoor advertising subsidiary, by calling for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to block the move and make further changes to the INM board.

Independent News and Media (INM) tonight dismissed calls from major shareholder and billionaire telecoms mogul Denis O’Brien to sell off its London titles.

MANAGEMENT at Independent News & Media (INM) is hopeful of finally reaching a refinancing agreement with lenders on its long overdue €200 million bond, without having to seek a fourth deadline extension — and has ruled out any need for the business to go into examinership.

Independent News & Media has announced a 52% drop in operating profits to €73.2m (from €153.8m) for the six months to the end of June.

THE Competition Authority (CA) is conducting a full investigation into plans by once bitter rivals to merge Dublin free sheets Metro and Herald AM.

THE threat of examinership is still thought to be a real option for Independent News & Media (INM), as the group is now fully expected to gain yet a further extension to its existing standstill agreement with lenders over its outstanding €200 million bond – which was originally due for repayment back in May.

MULTI-DISCIPLINED Indian media giant Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL) – in which Independent News & Media (INM) holds a 13.5% stake – has reported a 56.4% year-on-year increase in first-quarter after-tax profits to €7.4 million.

THE Limerick Leader yesterday announced that it was seeking 3.5 redundancies from the 28 journalists on the newspaper.

Independent News & Media (INM) today lowered its profit forecast for 2009, describing the current business environment as "extremely challenging".

THE board of Independent News & Media (INM) said yesterday that it is confident of reaching a satisfactory agreement from its ongoing negotiations with relevant stakeholders over the refinancing terms of its €200 million bond.