Denis O’Brien, who owns 26% of Independent News & Media (INM), threatened to “destroy” Sir Anthony O’Reilly, the company’s largest shareholder, during a heated telephone conversation with Gavin O’Reilly, the company’s chief executive, last week.
The threat was made during a three-way phone call involving O’Brien, O’Reilly and Paul Connolly, an adviser to O’Brien and one of his three nominees on the INM board, which took place at about 6.30pm last Thursday. Connolly and O’Reilly were in their Dublin offices and O’Brien was in Ibiza.
The conversation ranged over a number of issues including the future of the London-based Independent newspaper titles; a claim that “O’Reilly directors” had “ganged up” on O’Brien’s three nominees at a board meeting; a dispute between Margaret Jay, the board’s senior independent director, and Lucy Gaffney, another of O’Brien’s nominees; O’Brien’s concern that in the absence of “action” then INM could be another “Waterford Wedgwood”; complaints that O’Brien had not been consulted about a restructuring proposal made by O’Reilly in June; and the company’s continuing efforts to refinance its loans, during which O’Brien said O’Reilly needed “to listen to people who have experience”.
As the atmosphere worsened, O’Brien told O’Reilly he “wasn’t capable of delivering a deal” with the company’s bondholders. He then told O’Reilly that if he wanted “a fight” he would “destroy” both him “and his father” and “go after everything”.
O’Brien told The Sunday Times yesterday that the crisis at INM “has been escalating for years” and the banks, bondholders, investment community and staff had seen it coming. He claimed people with responsibility “took no action”.