Four directors of Esat resign after founder's decision to quit

Mr Leslie Buckley and three other directors of Esat Telecom have resigned from the board of the telecommunications company, which was taken over by BT in January for £1.9 billion (#2.41 billion). Their departure follows the announcement last week by Mr Denis O'Brien, the company's founder, that he was leaving the group.

Mr Buckley, Mr Padraig O hUiginn, Ms Lucy Gaffney and Mr Denis O'Brien snr remained as directors, along with Mr O'Brien, after the takeover to ensure a smooth transition. "We were there to assist the integration process; to provide advice and support to BT. That job is done," said Mr Buckley yesterday. "BT is up to speed and has a chief executive and management team in place," he said.

None of the exiting directors will be compensated for loss of office. All four profited from the sale of Esat through shares and share options. Mr Buckley was reported to have made around £6 million from the sale while Mr O hUiginn, a former secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach under Mr Charles Haughey, made £3.5 million. Ms Gaffney, who was appointed chief operating officer just prior to the takeover, had options worth £3.6 million. Mr O'Brien snr made £3.5 million, but his profits, along with those of the other directors, were dwarfed by the £230 million his son made from the deal.

Mr Buckley said that the possibility of conflicts of interests between the four directors' other businesses and BT's operations was not a factor in their departure. He described as "grievously insulting" reports last week that Mr O'Brien left because BT was unhappy that he had a 5 per cent stake in Versatel, a Dutch phone company in dispute with another BT subsidiary.

"The question of conflicts of interest was never raised by BT," he said. "It has been a really exciting period. The sell-out came much faster than any of us thought would happen. When someone puts the company in play you have no choice but to move with it," he said.

Mr Buckley and Mr O'Brien are involved in a mobile phone business in Jamaica, while Mr O'Brien is involved in telecommunications in Italy as well as the Netherlands. The two men have a number of other Internet-related projects. Along with Mr O hUiginn, they are behind ePower, which aims to be a significant player in the deregulated utilities market. This week it signed a joint venture with BP to distribute gas and electricity, as well as taking a 40 per cent stake in a BP-backed power station in west Dublin.