U2 manager Mr Paul McGuinness clinched a $50 million (£34.7 million) deal for the band on Wednesday in one of the most lucrative agreements in the history of the music industry. Polygram, its record company, will release three Best of U2 albums on its Island Records subsidiary. The first album, including recordings from 1980 to 1990, goes on sale on November 2nd.

But Mr McGuinness, the so-called fifth member of U2, will not discuss the detail despite being credited with brokering the deal. Other rock superstars, such as Madonna and Janet Jackson, have clinched $50 million-plus contracts but they were for new material, rather than back catalogue. Colleagues say the deal is as much a testament to Mr McGuinness's ability to spot an opportunity and play hard ball as it is the band's talent.

Mr McGuinness identified the chance for the deal against the backdrop of the $10.4 billion takeover bid for Polygram by Seagram, the Canadian drinks and entertainment group.

The November release of an album by U2, who have sold more than 87 million albums, is guaranteed to bolster Polygram's performance during the vital pre-Christmas sales period.

The U2 deal is also well-timed for Seagram. A large part of the $50 million advance was payable to the band on signing the contract on Wednesday, when Polygram was still under the control of Philips. However, the first of the three albums goes on sale in November, after Seagram expects to have assumed ownership.

The move is also good for Mr McGuinness personally. Over the past year there have been rumours of acrimony between the band and its manager. But lead singer Bono and his wife Ali are understood to have sided with Mr McGuinness and he is still said to be close to Bono and The Edge.

There are also said to be substantial strains between him and the band's accountant, Mr Ossie Kilkenny.

But all Mr McGuinness will say is that relations between him and the band are excellent. "We have been together for over 20 years now and I expect it will continue," he says.

Mr McGuinness says he grew up wanting to be a rock 'n' roll manager. "I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and I was always aware of Brian Epstein and Andrew Oldham - their respective managers. It looked like a wonderful job to me and I thought I would be good at it and enjoy it," he says.

Before being introduced to U2 he was living in a flat on Dublin's Waterloo Road, writing and producing commercials. He also managed a band called Spud and getting them signed to a Scandinavian label was his first big business break. In those days he used to hang around with bands such as Horslips and, to this day, he still works with the same people and socialises with them. Other friends include the Gate's Michael Colgan, Dave Kavanagh from Clannad and Billy Whelan - with whom he co-owns the label Celtic Heartbeat - as well as P.J. Mara "one of my best friends".

Friends from his early days at Clongowes - where his son Max is now a pupil - and Trinity say he often admitted at that time that he would not be happy unless he was wealthy. He certainly is that. Apart from his association with U2, he is also involved with managing other artists including PJ Harvey and The Art of Noise.

Some are less certain about the success of his business ventures outside U2 although this may be attributable to traditional Irish begrudgery. What is true is that he has his finger in an increasing number of pies, including the new independent television station, TV3.You cannot really get better vindication than a Supreme Court judgement, he says.

The TV3 consortium of which he is a part includes Windmill Lane Pictures and Mr Kilkenny and it will own 20 per cent of the new venture in which CanWest Global, a Canadian television company, holds the largest stake.

"I would have loved to see this up and running some years ago," he says. "It is about time RTE had some competition. But you should never underestimate the ability of an incumbent monopoly to defend itself.

"But we will have an enormous advantage using digital technology from the outset and we do not have the outmoded manning practices of RTE or the responsibility of being a public service broadcaster."

Mr McGuinness is well-known for his football interests and has been involved in the attempt to bring Wimbledon Football Club to Dublin. This is likely to be resolved in the courts but, according to Mr McGuinness, the Football Association of Ireland should have welcomed the initiative. "We are part of the same soccer environment as England and all our good players play for English professional clubs. I would have loved the opportunity to go to a Premier League match every couple of weeks in Dublin."

Surprisingly perhaps, he says he is very impressed at Rupert Murdoch's bid to take over Manchester United. "The soccer business is a very good business to be in; he will succeed at that and make a lot of money with it."

Mr McGuinness is also a one-third shareholder in Ardmore studios with the Government, through Forbairt, holding another third and Mr Kilkenny the remainder. But he has warned in the past of the high cost of film production in Ireland - with some of the studios remaining empty at times.

Previous ventures into the leisure industry were less successful. He eventually sold his share in Leisurecorp, which went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US earlier this year, although he says some kind of a shell company still exists.

Another business, a post-production video studio in London called the Mill, in which he and the band are shareholders, is in the process of being taken over by film director Ridley Scott's Sheperton Studios. He admits the facility is even too expensive for the band to use.

In the non-profit making area, he has just been reappointed to the Arts Council for his third term by Arts and Culture Minister, Ms de Valera. Friends say he is perhaps overly impressed with this role. But Mr McGuinness insists it is a great privilege to be on the board at a time when Irish arts are so successful.

Although "the cultural dire poverty of the past" has now been alleviated, he insists that far more than the current budget of £26 million should be spent on the arts. "We must recognise it is something we are good at and invest more substantially," he says.

"We like to think we are good at farming and tourism, but we are not that good at farming and our tourism industry needs to confront the fact that we have very xenophobic tendencies."

But the most common perception of Mr McGuinness is of a man whose inspired management of U2 has been driven by a mixture of hedonism, hard work and expertise. Most say he is a great rock 'n' roll manager who truly knows the business.

He is also one of the most hands-on managers and always travels with the band. He made sure U2 kept their money and ensured their success in the US by cultivating major movers such as concert promoter, Frank Barcelona.

He is sometimes criticised at home for his poshness, but others say that a public school accent could be a strength when negotiating on the band's behalf oversees.

But even his friends say he does not tolerate fools and is good at bearing grudges - and getting revenge.

According to one long-time friend, he has a view of himself which has not changed that much over the years. "He is a bit like Louis XIV, l'etat c'est moi, and he is not joking."

As a student he wrote articles for Trinity News which he ran almost as his own personal Private Eye. He penned a column called "Arthur Bannister apologises" in which he made people he did not like apologise for sins they did not commit.

But friends say that he is fun as well. "His motto is never apologise and never explain," one old acquaintance notes. But he also says he can be exceptionally loyal. One friend serving time in prison for possession of cocaine was visited by Mr McGuinness to the consternation of some.

He now lives in a large home in Annamoe in Wicklow, for which he paid £1.4 million in 1993. It is close to the homes of actor, Daniel Day Lewis, and movie director, John Boorman, with whom Mr McGuinness worked on the film Zardoz before his days with U2. But Mr McGuinness says he misses the city and still has an apartment in Dublin as well as a house in upmarket Holland Park in London.

Married with two children, he is said to be very close to his family in a world not always known for this. He met and married Kathy Gilfillan in 1977. She recently had her first play aired on RTE as part of the Two Lives series. His daughter, Alexandra (13), has worked in his office and also got a job helping with casting for the film version of Angela's Ashes.

Despite his close association with P.J. Mara and Bono's brief flirtation with Garret FitzGerald in the 1980s, he says he is apolitical, "although I am fascinated by politics and have a lot of friends who are politicians".