Denis O'Brien

Denis O'Brien, (born 19 April 1958 in County Cork), is an Irish entrepreneur. An Arts graduate of University College Dublin, O'Brien received an MBA in corporate finance from Boston College in 1982 and holds an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin.

Mobile Phone Entrepreneur

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In 1995, O'Brien set up and chaired the Esat Digifone consortium which submitted a bid for the second Irish GSM mobile phone license. Esat Digifone's bid defeated five other applicants, some of whom included major international operators.^[1] The Esat Digifone consortium was 40% owned by O'Brien's interests, 40% owned by the Norwegian state telecoms operators, Telenor, with the balance being owned by International Investment and Underwriting (IIU), an investment vehicle owned by Dermot Desmond.

On 7 November 1997, Esat Telecom Group plc held an initial public offering and was listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ Stock Markets. In 1999, difficulties arose^{[citation needed]} between O'Brien and Telenor over how Esat Digifone should be operated. Telenor attempted^{[citation needed]} to remove O'Brien as chairman of Esat Digifone and remove the Esat name from the company. Esat retaliated^{[citation needed]} by threatening to sue Telenor, and offered to buy the Norwegian company out. Eventually, in November 1999, Telenor bid for the entire share capital of Esat Telecom Group plc as a way of resolving the situation. The bid was rejected by the Esat board and so became a hostile takeover attempt. In order to defend this, in January 2000, British Telecommunications plc (now BT Group plc) made a friendly takeover offer^{[citation needed]} for the company which was backed by the Esat board. Esat became a wholly owned subsidiary of BT and was delisted from the stock market. O'Brien personally netted €317 million from the sale.^{[citation needed]}

After exiting the Irish mobile phone market, O'Brien started to compete^{[citation needed]} for mobile phone licenses in the Caribbean through his company Digicel. Digicel now has^{[citation needed]} in excess of six million mobile phone subscribers in the Caribbean and Central America. He set up^{[citation needed]} a new subsidiary Digicel Group Ltd. and via a bonds issue, acquired the entire holding of Digicel Limited. O'Brien is involved in the South Pacific with operations in Samoa and Papua New Guinea^[2] and licenses in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and a license in principal in Fiji.^{[citation needed]}

Moriarty Tribunal investigates mobile phone license

The awarding of the second mobile phone license to Esat Digifone is one of the matters being inquired into by the Moriarty Tribunal, which was established in 1997^[3] to investigate allegations of payments to politicians. The Tribunal is inquiring into whether or not the then Minister for Telecommunications, Michael Lowry, interfered in any way in the process of the awarding of the license to Esat Digifone. Extensive evidence has been given under oath by many witnesses over the past five years, including all of the Civil Servants that took place in the license competition process.^[4] The Moriarty Tribunal is expected to issue its final report in 2008. O'Brien challenged^{[citation needed]} the Moriarty Tribunal on two occasions in the Irish Courts. In November 2006, he filed a complaint^{[citation needed]} with the European Court of Human Rights protesting at the manner in which the Tribunal has conducted its inquiries in respect to the mobile phone license. Again, on 11 March 2008, O'Brien's lawyers argued at the Moriarty tribunal that he was being unfairly treated.^[5]

Radio Entrepreneur

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Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by O'Brien in 1989. The Group’s radio operations launched in Ireland in the same year and followed with stations in the Czech Republic in 1992. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Communicorp has grown and become a major player in the Irish media market.

The company now owns 42 radio stations in 8 countries across Europe, including Ireland: Dublin's 98 (Formerly 98FM), Newstalk, Spin 1038 and Spin South West, as well as minor holdings in other stations, including East Coast FM.

O'Brien was recently the highest bidder for the Irish operations of Emap, which would add Today FM, FM104 and Highland Radio to their control, but this requires competition authority approval.

Aircraft Leasing

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In 1999, Denis O'Brien founded Aergo Capital Limited. Aergo is registered in Dublin and also has offices in Nairobi, Singapore, Santiago and Johannesburg. It owns and operates a fleet of 103 commercial aircraft. The company is valued at $250 Million USD and has debts in the region of $166 Million USD. O'Brien controls about 83% of Aergo and, along with his father, sits on the company's 6 strong board. Aergo Capital's clients include Alitalia, Jet Airways, South African Airways, KLM and DHL. In July 2008, Aergo acquired the Safair aircraft-leasing division of Imperial Holdings for €110 Million. Aergo will take over the division's 33 planes and will lease a further nine aircraft from the parent company.

Sterling Energy

Denis O'Brien is also a substantial shareholder in AIM-listed Sterling Energy. The company has production in the United States and a wide portfolio of exploration interests, mostly in West Africa.

Media Shareholding

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In January 2006 O'Brien first took a stake in Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Independent News and Media (IN&M). As of 25 March 2008, he holds 175,053,996 ordinary shares of €0.30, which represents 22.15% of the total number of voting shares of the company^[6]. This compares to O'Reilly's family stake of 28.2%. At the beginning of June 2007, O'Reilly tabled a resolution^{[citation needed]} to strengthen rules on the disclosure of beneficial interests. This was regarded as a defensive measure that would empower IN&M to monitor any additional accumulation of shares in the company. The resolution passed and empowers IN&M to withhold dividends from investors who do not comply with a request for information on the ownership of a holding of shares.^{[citation needed]} O'Brien, speaking on RTÉ radio, described the resolution as a "retrograde" measure, saying that the resolution was designed to protect the interests of O'Reilly's family against a hostile bidder.^[7] In March 2008, Independent News & Media (INM) criticised O'Brien, branding the businessman a "dissident shareholder".^[7] Denis O'Brien subsequently won^{[citation needed]} a ruling to remove the word "dissident" from the company archives.

Electrical Industry Failure

On the first phase of de-regulation of the electricity supply industry in Ireland in the late 1990s, O'Brien established a company to sell electricity to large industrial and commercial electricity customers, having first bought electricity from the Electricity Supply Board. This venture was unsuccessful and closed in less than one year of operation.

Other Interests

He was Chairman of the Special Olympics World Summer Games when they were held in Ireland in 2003, and on the U.S. Board of Concern Worldwide.

In September 2005, O'Brien was named Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ireland. Simultaneously, he moved his residence from Portugal to Malta, for tax avoidance reasons. He resigned from the position of Deputy Governor Bank of Ireland, and also as a member of the Bank's board or court, on 12 September 2006^[8]. The Bank of Ireland issued a statement describing his resignation to "his growing international business interests together with the demands of an extensive travel schedule, meant that he could no longer devote the time required to the ever increasing workload of the court."^[9]. O'Brien has also resigned from the Norkom Group and the Smurfit Business School. His spokesman said^{[citation needed]}that the resignations were unconnected with the work of the Moriarty Tribunal.

O'Brien is also a member of the Bilderberg group.^[10] On 13 February 2008, the chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, John Delaney, confirmed that O'Brien had agreed to part fund the wages of the Irish football manager Giovanni Trapattoni.^[11]

Other Awards

In April 2007, O'Brien accepted^{[citation needed]} the first honorary Vice-Presidency of the UCD Quinn Society^{[citation needed]} (Europe's largest Career & Academic Society). In January 2008, Digicel was honoured by the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies for the contribution it made to Caribbean life.

Personal Wealth

According to the Forbes Magazine, O'Brien has a fortune of $800 million dollars.^[12]

Move to Malta

O'Brien had considered the flotation of Digicel on the New York Stock Exchange and he has taken up residence in Malta. Malta charges no tax on worldwide assets or income brought in by permanent residents.^[13] Residence, for tax purposes, means renting or buying a property with a minimum value and visiting Malta at least once within one year of becoming a resident.

O'Brien owns in excess of 87 per cent of the Digicel group, which is owned by way of Digicel Ltd based in Bermuda, another territory with an attractive capital gains tax regime.

He had been a tax resident of Portugal when he sold Esat Telcom in 2000, and this enabled him to avoid Irish capital gains tax. This, allied with his alleged links to Michael Lowry, has made him something of an unpopular figure in Ireland. He still owns considerable property in Portugal. The government of Portugal closed the loophole in capital gains tax exposed by O'Brien. As of March 2007, he is a resident of Malta for tax purposes.

See also

• Dublin's 98
• East Coast FM
• Digicel

References

1. ^ Court action on the awarding of the license by thePersona grouping has been signaled.
2. ^ Digicel
3. ^ Moriarty Tribunal
4. ^ Moriarty Tribunal
5. ^ Moriarty dismisses conspiracy on part of tribunal
6. ^ O'Brien increases INM shareholding to 22.15%
7. ^ ^{a b} O'Brien branded a 'dissident' and accused of destabilising company
8. ^ "O'Brien leaves Bank of Ireland Court". RTÉ News. 12 September 2006. http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0912/boi.html. 
9. ^ Smyth, Sam (13 September 2006). "Standing down has sparked speculation". Irish Independent. http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1686985&issue_id=14635. 
10. ^ http://www.lonelantern.org/images/bilderberglist2006.jpg
11. ^ ESPNsoccernet - Europe - Billionaire fan part-paying Trapattoni's wages
12. ^ Forbes Magazine
13. ^ "O'Brien makes pre-flotation move to Malta". The Irish Times. 15 September 2006. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/front/2006/0915/1158271559252.html. 

External links

• Profile of Denis O'Brien
• Denis O'Brien visionary and philanthropist embraces employee ownership Jamaica Observer, 17 May 2006
• Article in Forbes - March 2007