O'Brien move on IN&M share issue defeated at egm

A PROPOSAL from Denis O’Brien to revoke the authority of Independent News & Media’s (IN&M) board to issue new shares was easily defeated at an extraordinary general meeting (egm) yesterday, an outcome that was generally expected.

This development came on a day when the group confirmed the appointment of Vincent Crowley as its new chief operating officer, with Joe Webb replacing Mr Crowley as chief executive of its Irish division.

The resolution proposed by the telecoms entrepreneur, who has a stake of 14.16 per cent in IN&M, was overwhelmingly voted down on a show of hands by shareholders at the meeting in the Green Isle Hotel in Dublin. Almost two-thirds of proxy votes were also against the motion.

Yesterday’s egm was seen by some commentators as a pointless exercise, as the Dublin-based group had already issued 723.2 million new ordinary shares to its bondholders earlier this week in settlement of a €200 million debt that was due to repaid in May. Collectively, bondholders now own almost 44 per cent of the company.

Last week, two separate resolutions (aimed at changing the composition of the board) proposed by Mr O’Brien were also defeated.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, chief executive Gavin O’Reilly described the results of the latest shareholder vote as “pretty overwhelming”.

Shareholders were clearly very much in support of the restructuring deal reached with the groups’ banks and bondholders following “very, very tough negotiations” over the last six months, Mr O’Reilly added.

“A lot of these egms have very little to do with the business of the company,” he said, adding that here had been “too many sideshows”. “Hopefully we can now move on, having gotten a very strong endorsement by shareholders.”

IN&M still has to negotiate two more egms on November 26th before its restructuring deal is complete. The board will seek shareholder approval for a rights issue and for the disposal of its South African advertising subsidiary IN&M Outdoor, at these meetings.

In a statement issued to the stock exchange, IN&M said that proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis had recommended that shareholders vote in favour of all four resolutions being put to them at the upcoming egms.

Meanwhile, newly appointed group chief operating officer Mr Crowley fills a vacancy created when Gavin O’Reilly replaced his father Sir Anthony as chief executive.

Mr Crowley has run the Irish business of IN&M since 2002, having joined the group in 1990. Mr Webb now leaves his position as managing director of Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Limited to take up the reins as chief executive of IN&M Ireland.