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October 30, 2008

INM “dissident” shareholder raises stake above 26 per cent

By Dominic Ponsford

Telecoms entrepreneur Denis O’Brien yesterday bought another two million shares in Independent News and Media – raising his stake above 26 per cent and giving him extra clout with the board.

The move puts the man who has been branded a dissident shareholder just behind chief executive Sir Anthony O’Reilly who owns 28 per cent of the shares.

If O’Brien reaches 29.9 per cent he must make a bid for the company.

O’Brien has been highly critical of O’Reilly’s leadership of Independent News and Media – whose UK titles include The Independent, the Belfast Telegraph and the Sunday World – and called for the company to sell off the loss-making Independent titles.

In an interview with The Times last year he said: ‘The Independent has to go, as do other vanity projects.

‘If he goes, and The Independent is sold, shareholders will save money. This is a company that is going nowhere.

‘Tony O’Reilly would be better off retiring and going off to sort out Waterford Wedgwood.’

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O’Brien now has 26.15 per cent of the voting rights in Independent News and Media.

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