Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien has renewed his attack on corporate governance at Independent News & Media (IN&M) ahead of newspaper publisher's annual shareholder meeting in London's Park Lane Hotel today.
Echoing some of the findings of a study a year ago, a new report commissioned by Mr O'Brien argues IN&M's board is too large, it has too few independent directors and its audit committee is too closely affiliated with management.
"This should be a matter of grave concern," Mr O'Brien said in a statement. "It is in the interests of all shareholders that our board carries out its duties and responsibilities in a totally objective and impartial manner."
Independent News described his report as a "malicious and wholly inaccurate assessment".
"It fails to consider the reality of how the INM Board functions, the individual contributions of each of the directors and their ability to execute their own independent judgment for the benefit of all stakeholders," it said in a statement.
The publisher of the
Irish Independentand Britain's
Independentnewspaper, which also has media interests in South Africa and Australasia, has already branded Mr O'Brien a dissident shareholder.
Chief Operating Officer Gavin O'Reilly, whose father is the company's biggest shareholder, accused Mr O'Brien earlier this year of having a "persecution complex" over coverage of him in the group's newspapers.
Mr O'Brien, whose 25.4 per cent stake in Independent News is just short of chief executive Anthony O'Reilly's 27.9 per cent, has said he is just acting in the interests of shareholders.
The tiff between two of Ireland's best known and wealthiest businessmen had led to media speculation that O'Brien may launch a takeover bid for IN&M.
The market has largely discounted the likelihood, however, given that O'Reilly has a big enough stake to block any offer.
Shares in the company have fallen over 40 per cent from highs set in May 2007.