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DUBLIN - Irish telecoms billionaire Denis O'Brien has raised his stake in Independent News & Media but traders discounted it as the reason for a 10 per cent jump in the newspaper publisher's Dublin share price.
"This is more of a relief bounce rather than having anything to do with O'Brien," said one Dublin-based trader overnight (NZ time). "It's just an adjustment rather than related to any news."
Traders said the Irish stock was playing catch-up after it closed 1 per cent higher at 1.70 euros ($3.33) in London on Thursday, when its Dublin-listed stock ended down almost 5 per cent at 1.60 euros ahead of the Easter holiday.
That difference was reflected in the company's share prices on Tuesday with the stock up 9.4 per cent at 1.75 euros in Dublin by 1604 GMT having earlier risen as high as 1.77 euros.
In London the stock was also at 1.75 euros but that translated into a gain of 3.1 per cent which was broadly in line with a 3.4 per cent rise for the broader UK market.
"If somebody believed O'Brien was going to do something of any significance the stock would obviously be much higher," the trader said.
O'Brien said earlier in a statement that he had raised his holding in Independent News - which owns just under 40 per cent of NZ Herald publisher APN News & Media - to 22.15 per cent from the 21.17 per cent declared last week.
He has been steadily building his stake in the Dublin-based group over the last year, consolidating his position as its second biggest shareholder behind Chief Executive Anthony O'Reilly who owns 26.7 per cent.
O'Brien has kept the market abreast of share buys that have seen his stake rise steadily from 5 per cent a year ago but his regular announcements have had little obvious market impact given O'Reilly has a big enough stake to block any takeover bid.
Indeed shares in the company have more than halved in value since O'Brien announced last May that he had raised his holding to 7.3 per cent.
O'Brien last year criticised corporate governance and close ties between board members at the owner of Britain's Independent newspaper, the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish Independent and a string of titles in South Africa and Australasia.
O'Reilly and his son, Chief Operating Officer Gavin O'Reilly, rejected the criticism as partisan but the spat and continued stake building have triggered media reports of a feud between two of Ireland's best known billionaires.
- REUTERS
