Business Today Newsletter

Denis O’Brien’s Digicel future, State to be minority investor in AIB and how to plan for a wedding

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Denis O’Brien Digicel

Denis O’Brien's holding in Digicel is set to fall to about 10%

Peter Flanagan's face
Peter Flanagan
Wed Jun 28 2023 - 06:12

Digicel founder Denis O’Brien and bond investors have signed a deal that will see the businessman lose most of his stake in the telecoms group in exchange for a $1.7 billion (€1.55 billion) debt write-off. Joe Brennan has the details.

Joe also reports that the State’s holding in AIB is to drop below 50 per cent as it prepares to sell another tranche of shares.

The cost of living crisis seems to only get worse. Third-level students living away from home will need well over €1,500 each month, or more than €14,000 to get through an academic year, new research suggests. Conor Pope has the story.

If you think flights are more expensive since the pandemic, you’re not wrong. Barry O’Halloran reports that the cost of flights increased by a third, amid an unceasing demand for travel.

READ MORE

In Money Matters, Brianna Parkins looks at how to plan for a wedding, and avoid the pitfalls that seem to befall so many.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath’s officials are considering whether legislation should be introduced to require certain types of businesses and sectors to accept cash, as part of a wider review of the State’s payments system. Joe has the story.

A Dublin 8 resident has hit out at Wetherspoon’s plans to build a 43ft-high sound barrier for its Keaven’s Port Hotel’s outdoor pub courtyard, claiming that what is planned “is taller than the Berlin Wall or the Great Wall of China”. Gordon Deegan reports.

Gordon also reports that the design management firm owned by one of Ireland’s best known designers, Paul Costelloe, last year enjoyed a bumper year as post-tax profits more than doubled to €511,410, according to Paul Costelloe Design Management Ltd’s latest accounts.

Gordon also reports that a Johnny Ronan firm has secured planning permission for a mixed use scheme for the Cherrywood Special Development Zone (SDZ) in South Dublin that includes 481 so-called build to rent apartments.

In her column, Sarah O’Connor warns that rising interest rates risk increasing the divide between the older “haves” and the younger “have nots.”

In Commercial Property, Ronald Quinlan reports that German investor MEAG is understood to be closing in on the purchase for about €50 million of a prime office investment in Dublin’s south docklands from Hibernia Real Estate Group, while several potential purchasers including a US-headquartered logistics and airport developer and a sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi have expressed their interest in a land bank at Dublin Airport.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest. If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.