DENIS O'BRIEN has returned to the market for shares in Independent News & Media (IN&M), escalating his confrontation with company chief Sir Anthony O'Reilly in advance of its annual general meeting (agm) in a fortnight.
Mr O'Brien, who had not bought shares since a dilution of his interest in March after an all-share deal between IN&M and Clear Channel International, said yesterday that he increased his stake in the business to 22.6725 per cent from his previous shareholding of 21.07 per cent.
This follows his purchase of some 13.3 million IN&M shares, acquired at a cost of around €27.66 million according to its closing price last night of €2.08, at the end of a day on which the stock rose two cent.
Mr O'Brien's stake briefly reached 22.16 per cent in March before its was diluted. This occurred when Clear Channel took a 4.7 per cent stake in IN&M in consideration for the 50 per cent interest in African advertiser Clear Channel Independent that IN&M did not already own.
The interest he declared represents the highest stake yet held by Mr O'Brien since he started to increase the shareholding of 14.5 per cent that he controlled at the start of the year.
Having held only 3 per cent of the company at the start of 2007, Mr O'Brien is assumed to be preparing a bid for IN&M although he has never said so publicly.
The firm, which dismisses his attacks on its board, governance and strategy, has branded him a "dissident" investor. In addition, IN&M has questioned whether he is capable of mounting a bid.
For his part, Mr O'Brien is known to have commissioned an update of a report on IN&M's corporate governance from US consultancy Davis Global Advisers. The company last year rejected a report from the same source heavily critical of its governance.
In an interview last week with the Guardian, Mr O'Brien again criticised the size and composition of IN&M's board as well as the company's ownership of the London Independent.
Sir Anthony has consolidated his position on the IN&M share register since the Clear Channel dilution, which followed the issue of 39 million new shares in the company. He holds 27.88 per cent of the firm's stock, a stake that brings the combined interest of the IN&M board to 29.36 per cent. Such a stake is just short of the 29.9 per cent threshold above which a mandatory bid for the business would be required.
