Denis O'Brien and IN&M

[locke]

On Wednesday it was reported that Denis O'Brien had upped his stake in Independent News and Media to 12.2% (as opposed to Sir Anthony's 27%).

Today, IN&M is the most heavily traded share on the Irish Stock Exchange. It's not a company you'd often see at the top of the list. So, it would appear that someone is building up more of a stake in the company.

That could be Denis O'Brien; it could be O'Reilly increasing his stake for defensive purposes; it could be brokers or a large private investor building up shareholdings in the expectation of a takeover.

One way or another, it looks like O'Brien is going for control of the group.

Considering the perception that Newstalk was a pro-opposition station in the election, while the IN&M papers and the Sindo in particular were pro-government, what is the likely political fallout?

Also, considering his hold on a number of radio stations, would it be putting so much of the private media in one person's hands that we should be concerned?

[kerrynorth]

On Wednesday it was reported that Denis O'Brien had upped his stake in Independent News and Media to 12.2% (as opposed to Sir Anthony's 27%).

Today, IN&M is the most heavily traded share on the Irish Stock Exchange. It's not a company you'd often see at the top of the list. So, it would appear that someone is building up more of a stake in the company.

That could be Denis O'Brien; it could be O'Reilly increasing his stake for defensive purposes; it could be brokers or a large private investor building up shareholdings in the expectation of a takeover.

One way or another, it looks like O'Brien is going for control of the group.

Considering the perception that Newstalk was a pro-opposition station in the election, while the IN&M papers and the Sindo in particular were pro-government, what is the likely political fallout?

Also, considering his hold on a number of radio stations, would it be putting so much of the private media in one person's hands that we should be concerned?

I find the last paragraph a bit ironic TBH.

[HanleyS]

As opposed to Sir Tony owning it all?

[droghedasouth]

Whatever about the rest of your story, as of 14.30 IN&M were not in the top 5 for value of shares traded today.

[locke]

The volume ranking was on number of shares, not value. Perhaps not the best indicator, but you still don't expect to see it above AIB, Bank of Ireland etc.

If you look at this chart, you can see that there has been a volume of trading today, much above normal levels




For the other posters, what are Tony O'Reilly's radio holdings in Ireland?

[HanleyS]

Only 1% of the company changed hands though? 6 million shares out of over 700 million.

[kerrynorth]

Your last paragraph referred to the ownership of 'private media' and not just radio. In any case the State and local stations 'dominate' the airwaves. Not O'Brien.

[locke]

That's not so surprising. If you tried to build a stake too quickly, you'd just end up sending the share price through the roof. It was 1.2% added by O'Brien last time out. It's safer to build in chunks of that size.

[odie1kanobe]

AH so O'Brien can pontificate from his lair about how bad the FF Govt is treating taxpayers.

[locke]

That stake is now up to 14.5%.

I assume he's not going for a takeover, but could well be looking to take effective control.