Mr Brendan Murtagh is to rejoin building materials company King span two years after he resigned from the board when it was found two people close to his sons had bought shares in a takeover target of the company.
Mr Murtagh resigned from the Kingspan board in December 1998 after it emerged that Ms Nicky Shiers, wife of Mr Murtagh's son Alan, had bought 20,000 shares in Hewetson while Ms Kathryn McFadden, a friend of Mr Murtagh's other son Fergal, had bought 13,000 Hewetson shares.
At the time, Kingspan was in talks to buy Hewetson for £37 million sterling - representing a premium of 50 per cent to the price Ms Shiers and Ms McFadden paid for their shares. At the time, Kingspan said: "While Mr Brendan Murtagh may inadvertently have disclosed confidential information to his sons, he did not encourage them to deal in Hewetson shares nor did he envisage that they would do so. The board is also satisfied that Mr Murtagh did not act dishonestly."
His two sons, who held junior management positions with Kingspan, were suspended. They were reinstated about a year later after the London Stock Exchange ruled no further action was required. The shares Ms Shiers and Ms McFadden bought were sold at a small loss.
Four months after he resigned, Mr Murtagh sold almost 8 per cent of the company, worth £23 million worth. He retained 12.8 million shares, now worth almost €40 million (£31.5 million). Six months before his departure, he had sold £7.8 million worth of shares.
During the two years Mr Murtagh was off the board, he increased his property holdings, recently raising his stake in Howard Holdings from 16 per cent to 25 per cent at a cost of £1 million sterling (€1.65 million).
Mr Murtagh was also an active investor in exploration companies and was involved in the failed MMI Stockbrokers. It folded in March 1999 with unsettled trades involving its clients of £13 million.
Mr Murtagh became involved in a legal dispute with the London company K&H Options one of MMI's counter-parties which alleged he owed a £4 million sterling debt arising from the stockbroker's collapse. The outcome of that dispute has not been made public.
