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Denis O'Brien

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Daveburstein (talk | contribs) at 23:54, 12 September 2022 (Added Fitch and Irish Times reports on loss of value and possible default at primary holding Digicel. Removed outdated claims of "billionaire" now doubtful because of Digicel). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other people named Denis O'Brien, see Denis O'Brien (disambiguation).

Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien in 2014
Born (1958-04-19) 19 April 1958 (age 66)
Cork, Ireland[1]
EducationUniversity College Dublin
Boston College
OccupationBusinessman
Known forChairman and Founder of Digicel Group
TitleExecutive Chairman Digicel
Spouse
Catherine Walsh
​
(m. 1997)​
Children4

Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel.[1][2] His business interests have also extended to aircraft leasing (Aergo Capital), utilities support (Actavo), petroleum (Topaz Energy), football (a minority shareholder of Celtic F.C.), and healthcare (Beacon Hospital[3]). As former chairman of the Esat Digifone consortium, O'Brien was questioned by the Moriarty Tribunal, which investigated the awarding of a mobile phone licence to Esat, among other things.

In 2021, O'Brien sold his stake in Communicorp and the Pacific operations of Digicel. O'Brien engages in various philanthropic activities, including being on the board of Concern Worldwide, founding the Iris O'Brien Foundation and establishing a fellowship at Boston College. In 2019, O'Brien earned the Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Irish-US Council.

Early life

O'Brien was born in the city of Cork. He was the only boy among four children, and grew up in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin.[4] His father created a medical supply company and later a horse nutrition business.[4] As a child, Denis accompanied his father on business trips, where he learned how to close sales.[1] He attended The High School in Rathgar, where he was once suspended for three months, until the school asked him back to participate in a rugby championship.[1] His first job was as a hotel bellhop at age 14, and he started working on building cleaning jobs at 15.[1]

In 1977, O'Brien received a BA in politics, history and logic at University College Dublin.[5] While attending UCD, he received a scholarship to attend Boston College, where he completed an MBA.

Career

Early stages

Upon his return to Dublin, O'Brien was employed at a small investment bank, Trinity Bank, but he left that job to become a personal assistant to Tony Ryan, owner of an aircraft leasing company.[1]

Communications and media

O'Brien has spent most of his career in the communications technology and mass media industries. He has also been a part owner of energy, aerospace, and industrial service companies.

Communicorp

Main article: Communicorp

O'Brien was until early 2021 the owner of Communicorp,[6] a media holding company operating across Europe. He started the company in Ireland in 1989,[7][8] where it has owned independent radio stations like Newstalk and Today FM.[9][10] The company expanded to markets in Eastern European countries, later selling some of its stations to local operators.[11][12] In 2014, Communicorp expanded to the United Kingdom, acquiring eight radio stations across the country;[13] in 2017, Communicorp moved its UK radio stations to a new independent company, Communicorp UK, of which O'Brien owns 98% of the shares.[14] In February 2021, O'Brien sold Communicorp to Bauer Media Audio for approximately €100 million.[15]

Esat Telecom and Esat Digifone

Main articles: BT Ireland and O2 (Ireland)

In 1991, O'Brien formed a telecommunications consortium called Esat Telecom to compete with the state-owned Telecom Eireann.[16] In partnership with Telenor, Norway's state telecom operator, Esat formed Esat Digifone, which made a successful bid for Ireland's second GSM mobile licence.[17][18] Circumstances around the awarding of the licence to Esat Digifone became the subject of the Moriarty Tribunal.[19][20]

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.[21] In 2000, Telenor made a bid for control of the company, but O'Brien sold it to BT, reportedly making €250 million from the sale.[22][23]

Aergo Capital

Main article: Aergo Capital

In 1999, O'Brien co-founded aircraft leasing company Aergo Capital, of which he owned an 80% stake. From its inception until 2014, Aergo traded more than 150 aircraft with a gross value of over €791 million (approximately $1 billion). In October 2014, O'Brien and his partner, Fred Browne, sold the company to CarVal, a US investment firm; Browne remained with the new company as CEO.[24]

Independent News & Media

Main article: Independent News & Media

In the late 2000s, O'Brien began purchasing shares of Independent News & Media (INM), ultimately spending an estimated €500 million to amass a 29.9% stake in the company.[25][26][27] O'Brien clashed with the company's board, especially former owner Tony O'Reilly,[28] who stepped down from his position as CEO in 2009 and sold most of his INM shares in 2014.[29] In April 2019, O'Brien and Dermont Desmond, INM's second largest shareholder at the time, sold their shares to the Belgian media group Mediahuis; O'Brien reportedly received €43.5m as part of the deal.[30]

Although he never owned a majority stake in INM, O'Brien was at times accused of exerting significant influence at the company. In 2014, allegations arose that Stephen Rae, a group editor at INM, ordered amendments to a column by Sunday Independent editor Anne Harris that contained references to O'Brien.[31] In 2015, Paul Meagher, a solicitor for O'Brien, reportedly called INM solicitor Simon McAleese in 2012 to block a story related to environment minister Phil Hogan.[32]

In March 2018, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) in Ireland applied to the High Court of Ireland to appoint inspectors to Independent News and Media to investigate an alleged data breach.[33] According to an affidavit filed by the ODCE, invoices for the data interrogation were discharged by Blaydon Limited.[34]

In June 2019, Independent News & Media was sold to the Belgian group Mediahuis[35] and de-listed from the Euronext Dublin exchange, thus ending O'Brien's involvement in the group. It was reported that he lost in excess of €450m in total on his INM investment.[25]

Digicel

Main article: Digicel

In 2001, O'Brien founded Digicel, a telecom company that operates in the Caribbean, Central America, and Asia Pacific. Using the cash from his sale of Esat Telecom, O'Brien used Digicel to build a wireless network in Jamaica.[36] That same year, Digicel expanded into the South Pacific. As of 2020, Digicel operated in 32 countries.[37][38]

Along with Digicel, O'Brien created the Digicel Foundation, which has worked with local organizations to develop community services, build schools and health centers, and support recovery efforts.[39][40] After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, O'Brien pledged €3.5 million to assist recovery efforts.[41][42] In 2012, President Michel Martelly of Haiti awarded O'Brien with the National Order of Honour and Merit for his investments, contributions and promotion of the country,[43] and in 2015, O'Brien received honorary membership of the Order of Jamaica for his service to the country's telecommunications industry.[44]

In May 2020, Digicel filed for bankruptcy court reorganization and successfully sought a debt restructuring agreement.[38] A debt exchange was approved by the company's bondholders and took place in June 2020.[45] As part of the exchange, O'Brien agreed to contribute $50 million of assets to Digicel, including $25 million in cash and the company's Jamaican headquarters.[46]

In October 2021, Digicel announced the sale of its Pacific operations to Telstra Corp, an Australia telecommunications company.[47][48] The sale was estimated at USD$1.6 billion.[47][48]

In September, 2022, credit rating service Fitch issued a warning of a potential debt default.[49] The Irish Times suggested There’s little or no equity value in Digicel.[50]

Actavo

Main article: Actavo

In 2012, O'Brien purchased Siteserv, a utilities support company, from IBRC for €45m; in 2015, the company was renamed Actavo.[51] Actavo was bought and controlled through O'Brien's firm Millington on the Isle of Man.[52]

In 2016, Actavo expanded into the United States through the purchase of Atlantic Engineering Services, a structural engineering firm.[53] Actavo was also involved in the installation of fibre networks for Digicel in the Caribbean.[54]

Topaz Energy

Main article: Topaz Energy

In December 2013, O'Brien purchased €300 million in debt owed by Topaz Energy to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. In December 2014, Topaz's parent company, Kendrick Investments, announced it would buy all of Esso's Irish operations.[55][56]

In December 2015, Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Canadian convenience store company, announced that it planned to buy Topaz.[57] The sale was completed in February 2016; Topaz had more than 2,000 employees and close to 35% of the consumer market in Ireland at the time of the sale.[58]

Davos and bank directorships

O'Brien has attended the World Economic Forum's annual winter meeting in Davos, Switzerland, alongside other billionaires like Bill Gates and George Soros.[59][60]

In 2000, O'Brien became a director of the Bank of Ireland, and in September 2005, he was named a deputy governor of the bank. In September 2006, he resigned as both deputy governor and as a member of the bank's court (board).[61] O'Brien reportedly resigned due to increased demands related to his international business interests.[61]

Football

Between 2008 and 2016, O'Brien gave the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) as much as €12 million to help pay the salaries of senior officials within the organisation, including Giovanni Trapattoni.[62][63] In 2018, O'Brien was named Honorary Life President of the FAI.[64]

In 2006, O'Brien purchased a 2.82% stake in Glasgow-based Celtic F.C. from a former manager of the club, Martin O'Neill.[65] As of June 2018, O'Brien reportedly had increased his ownership to 13%.[66]

Other business interests

In 1998, O'Brien purchased Planal SA, the holding company for the Quinta do Lago golf resort in Portugal.[67]

Moriarty Tribunal

Main article: Moriarty Tribunal

In 1997, the Moriarty Tribunal was established to look into allegations against two Irish politicians, Charles Haughey and Michael Lowry.[68] After 14 years, the Tribunal's final report found, among other things, that Lowry, Ireland's then energy and communications minister, assisted O'Brien in his bid to secure a mobile phone contract for Esat Digifone.[68] The tribunal found that this happened after Fine Gael received a $50,000 donation from O'Brien via a circuitous route, although the tribunal also acknowledged that the money was not intended as a payment. The tribunal concluded that Lowry gave "substantive information to Denis O'Brien, of significant value and assistance to him in securing the [mobile] licence" on at least two separate occasions.[69][70] However, because the Tribunal was not a court of law, its findings were legally "sterile".[71]

Sam Smyth, a radio show host that aired on one of O’Brien's networks, claimed he was fired as a result of his reporting on the Moriarty Tribunal.[72] Today FM responded to the claim, stating that "the decision was made to address a decline in listenership and was part of an initiative to improve programming quality." The Today FM board supported the decision, which was one of several programming changes made by Willy O'Reilly.[73]

Relationship with the media

In 2012, O'Brien allegedly threatened to sue journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne over statements in Browne's articles that O'Brien claimed were defamatory.[74] The Sunday Independent criticized the lawsuit as an attempt to "instill a fear of financial ruin".[74]

In February 2013, O'Brien sued the Irish Daily Mail for defamation over his numerous appearances in RTÉ news reports on the relief effort after the Haiti earthquake. The court awarded O'Brien €150,000.[75] The case was the first time a journalist had attempted to use the honest opinion defence before a jury at the High Court since the Defamation Act 2009 became law.[76]

In August 2015, the editor-in-chief of satirical website Waterford Whispers News, Colm Williamson received a cease and desist order from O'Brien's solicitor to remove a satirical article about O'Brien.[77] Lawyers for O'Brien also demanded that a reprint of the story be removed from Broadsheet.ie.[78]

In 2019, O'Brien began an action for defamation against the Sunday Business Post over articles published in the newspaper in March 2015.[79] The articles, which centred around a confidential PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report given to the government in November 2008 on the exposure of Ireland's banks in 2008, identified O'Brien as being among the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008.[80] O'Brien claimed the articles defamed him and injured his reputation and also alleged malicious publication.[80] The jury found in the defendant's favour and Justice Barton dismissed the case with an order for costs against O’Brien.[80][81]

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) debt

Through the acquisitions of Siteserv and Topaz Energy, O'Brien at one time held hundreds of millions of Euros in debt from the state-owned IBRC. In February 2013, the IBRC went into liquidation, and shortly thereafter, O'Brien asked for an extension to repay an outstanding €320m in loans. O'Brien claimed that he had previously received verbal confirmation for a loan extension from former IBRC CEO Mike Aynsley, but Aynsley's position was terminated when the bank went into liquidation.[82]

The matter became public in May 2015, when TD Catherine Murphy attempted to raise it in the Dáil Éireann.[83] According to Murphy, O'Brien allegedly wrote to the IBRC's special liquidator, Kieran Wallace, seeking the repayment terms he had verbally secured from Aynsley; both Aynsley and O'Brien denied the claims.[84]

On 16 June 2015, O'Brien sued the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, the Government of Ireland and the Attorney General over remarks made by Murphy and Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty about his banking affairs in the Dáil Éireann. O'Brien alleged that the remarks were a breach of parliamentary privilege that violated his constitutional rights and his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.[85][86] The Oireachtas Committee on Procedures and Privileges previously rejected O'Briens request to sanction Murphy over her allegations about his financial arrangements, which he claimed had breached parliamentary privilege.[87]

RTÉ injunction

In 2015, O'Brien and Kieran Wallace, the special liquidator who oversaw the liquidation of IBRC, successfully applied for an injunction in Ireland's High Court preventing RTÉ from airing a report about his receipt of a low interest rate on loans from the IBRC.[88] Justice Donald Binchy, the High Court judge who granted the injunction, said that the public did not have the right to see confidential banking information of IBRC customers, and that RTÉ had failed to prove that the terms of the loan were handled improperly by the IBRC.[89]

After the judgment, several media outlets reported that Catherine Murphy had spoken, but did not provide any quotes or clips from her speech.[88] The Independent, owned by Independent News & Media, of which O'Brien then held a significant interest, reported, "Mr. O'Brien successfully stopped RTÉ from broadcasting" details about O'Brien's finances that Murphy had raised in the Daíl.[90] Several Irish media outlets ignored the injunction by publishing Murphy's comments or referring to their publication on the Oireachtas website.[91]

In mid-June 2015, Justice Binchy ruled that most of RTÉ's report on Denis O'Brien's financial relationship with the IBRC could be published.[92] On 17 June 2015, RTÉ published what it called "a curtailed version" of the story, claiming that two paragraphs of the original story could not be printed because they were still covered by the High Court's injunction. The article was accompanied by a timeline of events between February and June 2013.[82]

O'Brien defended the injunction in an Irish Times op-ed piece, stating that he had been shocked that somebody took confidential files from a bank, altered them, and then leaked them to the press. He claimed to have been vilified by enemies, competitors, politicians, and others for trying to defend his privacy.[93]

IBRC Commission of investigation

Main article: IBRC commission of investigation

On 10 June 2015, a Commission of investigation was established to inquire into IBRC transactions that lost €10 million or more between 21 January 2009 and 7 February 2013.[94] The commission was initially chaired by retired High Court Judge Daniel O'Keeffe, but in July 2015, Judge Brian Cregan replaced Judge O'Keeffe as the commission's chair and sole member.[95] The terms of the commission were updated in 2016 to focus first on IBRC's sale of Siteserv to O'Brien in 2012, based on claims by TD Catherine Murphy in the Daíl Éireann; Murphy was asked to appear before the commission in February 2019, several months after criticising the amount of time it had taken the commission to complete its inquiry, but as of May 2019, she had not made herself available for testimony.[96][97] In November 2019, Murphy announced that she wouldn't appear before the commission because she was concerned that she would be required to reveal the source of her information.[98]

Recognition

O'Brien received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater, UCD, in 2006.[5]

In 2019, the Irish-US Council awarded O'Brien the 2019 Award for Outstanding Achievement for his work building bonds between Ireland and the United States.[99]

Personal life

In August 1997, O'Brien married Catherine Walsh, who helped Communicorp expand into the Czech Republic and who earlier was the head of marketing for Independent Radio Sales.[100] The couple have four children.[1] One of his three sisters is the artist Abigail O'Brien, President of Irish arts body, the Royal Hibernian Academy, for 2018−2023.[101]

Sponsorships and causes

In June 2000, O'Brien set up the Iris O'Brien Foundation, named after his mother, through which he coordinates many of his philanthropic efforts,[102][103] and has supported multiple charities and campaign groups, including the human rights group Front Line Defenders.[4] Front Line Defenders was co-founded by O'Brien in 2001, to help protect human rights defenders globally, and O'Brien remains its chairman as of 2021.[104]

O'Brien supported the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games, for which he was the chairman of the Games Organising Committee and later the Chairman of the Council of Patrons.[105][106][107] In 2004, O'Brien helped to establish the Digicel Foundation, which has funded thousands of projects in the Caribbean and Pacific.[104]

As of 2012, O'Brien was a member of the United States board of Concern Worldwide, a humanitarian aid organisation.[108] O'Brien has worked with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, O'Brien worked with CGI's Haiti Action Network and the Digicel Haiti Foundation to help rebuild the Iron Market in Port-au-Prince.[109][110] In 2010, O'Brien was named a goodwill ambassador for the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, by Mayor Jean Yves Jason, who cited O'Brien's help with disaster recovery efforts after the earthquake.[111] In 2012, O'Brien received a Clinton Global Citizen Award from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in large part due to his disaster relief efforts in Haiti.[42] He also contributed to building 50 primary and secondary schools in the 18 months following the earthquake.[43][112][113] In September 2016, then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sent a campaign email criticising Hillary Clinton's relationship with O'Brien, about which O'Brien declined to comment.[114][115]

In 2015, O'Brien established a fully-funded fellowship for Irish students to receive an MBA degree from Boston College.[116][117] O'Brien has also been a member of the Trilateral Commission.[118][citation needed]

O'Brien donated €2,500 to the campaign of independent candidate Mary Davis for the 2011 Irish presidential election.[119]

Wealth and residences

Some time after his purchase of Quinta do Lago in 1998, but before Esat Telecom's sale to BT in 2000, O'Brien sold his home in Dublin and established a primary residence in Portugal.[120] Media reports have suggested that the move was spurred by a then-existing exemption to capital gains tax in the Irish-Portuguese tax treaty, which reportedly would have saved O'Brien about €63 million in taxes.[120]

While considering the flotation of Digicel on the New York Stock Exchange, a March 2006 filing to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) listed O'Brien's residential address as Sliema, Malta. Although O'Brien has remained silent about his change of address, media have speculated that the Mediterranean island's lack of taxes on assets or income brought into the country was the primary incentive for the move.[121]

Further reading

References

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  2. ^ "The rules of attraction". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  3. ^ Molloy, Tom (7 April 2014). "Businessman Denis O'Brien takes control of Beacon Hospital". Irish Independent. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Murtagh, Peter. "Business and politics figures at funeral of Denis O'Brien snr". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Alma Mater confers Denis O'Brien with honorary Doctor of Laws". 15 November 2006.
  6. ^ "Denis O'Brien's Communicorp sells Latvian radio group". Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  7. ^ O'Carroll, Sinead. "Change of CEO in Denis O'Brien's radio group". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  8. ^ "Irish Media, Fearing Lawsuits, Steers Clear of a Billionaire". The New York Times. 29 May 2015.
  9. ^ "Communicorp seals purchase of Emap radio stations". Reuters. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Denis O'Brien's Communicorp to acquire Irish radio stations -Today FM, FM104 and Highland Radio - in €200m deal". Finfacts. 16 July 2007. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015.
  11. ^ "Denis O'Brien's Communicorp sells Latvian radio group". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Denis O'Brien sells Highland Radio". The Irish Emigrant. 11 May 2008. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015.
  13. ^ Ryan, Nicky. "Communicorp to snap up eight UK radio stations". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  14. ^ "Communicorp Group disposes of Communicorp UK". RadioToday. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  15. ^ Hancock, Ciarán. "O'Brien exits Irish media after 30 years of mixed fortunes". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  16. ^ Journal, Jennifer L. SchenkerSpecial to The Wall Street (23 April 1997). "Irish Phone Market Proves Tough for Upstart to Crack". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
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  18. ^ Gaffney, Lucy (27 March 2011). "We won because our was simply the best bid". The Sunday Business Post. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  19. ^ Court action on the awarding of the license by the Persona grouping has been signaled.
  20. ^ Keena, Colm (9 January 2016). "Cab seeks to question Denis O'Brien on tribunal findings". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  21. ^ Editor, Paul Polishuk. European Telecom Monthly Newsletter. Information Gatekeepers Inc. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
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  28. ^ McEnanaey, Tom (28 March 2008). "O'Brien branded a 'dissident' and accused of destabilising company". Irish Independent. Denis O'Brien. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  29. ^ Greenslade, Roy (5 May 2014). "Tony O'Reilly sells off INM shares five years after his departure as CEO". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  30. ^ Sweney, Mark (30 April 2019). "Independent News & Media to be sold to Belgian group". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
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  32. ^ Tighe, Mark (28 June 2015). "INM was asked to 'kill' Phil coverage". The Sunday Times.
  33. ^ Murphy, David (24 March 2018). "ODCE in court bid to appoint inspectors to probe INM". RTÉ News – via www.rte.ie.
  34. ^ Phelan, Shane (14 April 2018). "INM to pursue 'wrongdoers' for cost of ODCE inquiry into corporate governance". independent.
  35. ^ "'End of an era' as INM sale to Mediahuis approved at EGM". independent.
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  38. ^ a b "Caribbean telecom provider Digicel files for bankruptcy". ABC News. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  39. ^ Tighe, Mark (29 July 2018). "New website pays tribute to O'Brien charitable work". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  40. ^ "Denis O'Brien's Digicel Foundation opens 174th school in Haiti". IrishCentral.com. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  41. ^ McDonagh, Patricia; O'Brien, Jason (14 January 2010). "O'Brien pledges €3.5m as charities plead for money". Irish Independent. Denis O'Brien. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  42. ^ a b "O'Brien receives prestigious award from Clinton". Independent.ie. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
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  44. ^ Paul, Mark. "A juicy award for embattled Denis O'Brien". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  45. ^ "Digicel Group to finalise debt swap after court approval". jamaica-gleaner.com. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  46. ^ Brennan, Joe. "O'Brien may pull off $1.7bn Digicel debt write-off – but at what cost?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  47. ^ a b "Digicel Pacific: Australia's Telstra buys Pacific firm 'to block China'". BBC News. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  48. ^ a b Galloway, Zoe Samios, Anthony (24 October 2021). "Telstra seals $US1.6b deal to buy Digicel with a helping hand from Canberra". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  49. ^ "Digicel eyes maturing $925m bond as earnings drop". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  50. ^ "O'Brien has months to avert ceding almost 47% of Digicel to junk bondholders". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  51. ^ Daly, Gavin (18 October 2015). "Siteserv rebrands in €1bn sales drive" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  52. ^ Paul, Mark. "Millington: just one of many Manx companies used by Denis O'Brien". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  53. ^ "Actavo expands into US with AES acquisition". Independent.ie. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  54. ^ "Forget about Irish Water, Actavo Network's boss says his eye is on breaking America". Independent.ie. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  55. ^ McNamee, Michael Sheils. "Denis O'Brien-owned Topaz to take control of 38 Esso stations". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
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  74. ^ a b Kealy, Willie (5 August 2012). "Denis O'Brien makes personal libel threat to Vincent Browne". Sunday Independent.
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  76. ^ "Denis O'Brien wins defamation case against Irish Daily Mail". RTÉ News. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 14 February 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  77. ^ "Waterford Whispers News removes article after letter from Denis O'Brien's solicitors". Irish Examiner. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  78. ^ "Denis O'Brien lawyers demand removal of broadsheet.ie article". Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  79. ^ O'Donnell, Orla (5 February 2019). "Denis O'Brien suing Sunday Business Post for defamation". RTÉ News.
  80. ^ a b c Carolan, Mary. "Denis O'Brien loses defamation case against Sunday Business Post". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  81. ^ O'Donnell, Orla (1 March 2019). "Denis O'Brien loses defamation action against SBP". RTÉ News.
  82. ^ a b "Denis O'Brien sought more time to repay IBRC loans, citing alleged verbal agreement with bank's former CEO". RTÉ. Dublin. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  83. ^ "Deputy Murphy Is Out Of Order". 27 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
  84. ^ Barry O'Keeffe; Cliff Taylor (28 May 2015). "Catherine Murphy makes Denis O'Brien claims in Dáil". Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2015. O'Brien says information was false and claims were an abuse of Dáil privilege ... Ms Murphy has previously claimed Mr O'Brien had written to IBRC's special liquidator Kieran Wallace seeking the same terms IBRC had allowed him, which was to "pay off his own loans in his own time at low interest rates". The sale of Siteserv to Mr O'Brien has become embroiled in controversy and is the subject of a formal review by the IBRC's liquidator. The terms under which the company, which carries out a wide variety of services, including water meter installation, was sold are part of that review. Separately, Mike Aynsley, the former chief executive of IBRC, released a lengthy statement, taking issue with other comments by Ms Murphy, who was moving a Private Members' Bill through the Dáil. The Bill's aim is to permit the Comptroller & Auditor General to investigate the Siteserv sale and other IBRC transactions.
  85. ^ "O'Brien takes action over Dáil remarks on finances". RTÉ. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015. Mr O'Brien is seeking various declarations arising from speeches made in the Dáil, under privilege, by Independent TD Catherine Murphy and Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty. ... Senior Counsel, Michael Cush told Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns that the proceedings were against the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, Ireland and the Attorney General.
  86. ^ "Denis O'Brien launches legal action against Irish state over banking remarks". The Guardian. London. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  87. ^ Juno McEnroe; Ann Cahill (11 June 2015). "Oireachtas group rejects O'Brien's Dáil privilege abuse claim against Murphy". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 18 June 2015. An Oireachtas committee has rejected demands from businessman Denis O'Brien to sanction Independent TD Catherine Murphy for making allegations about his bank deals in the Dáil. The Committee on Procedures and Privileges (CPP) also rejected claims the TD abused Dáil privilege when she made the claims. O'Brien wrote to Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett last month complaining Ms Murphy had made "false and inaccurate" statements about his personal banking arrangements.
  88. ^ a b "Ireland's media silenced over MP's speech about Denis O'Brien". The Guardian. 29 May 2015.
  89. ^ Duffy, Rónán. "Here's why RTÉ's news story about Denis O'Brien was blocked by the courts". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  90. ^ Ryan, Philip (29 May 2015). "Murphy uses Dáil privilege to raise O'Brien finances". The Independent.
  91. ^ Fiach Kelly; Fiona Gartland (30 May 2015). "Oireachtas sources believe Catherine Murphy did not break Dáil rules". Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2015. Independent TD did not abuse privilege when commenting about Denis O'Brien ... It is an unprecedented development that the mainstream media have been prevented from publishing privileged remarks in the Dáil due to the threat of legal action. ...Ms Murphy's comments in the Dáil were published on the Oireachtas website, and it is understood neither Mr O'Brien nor his representatives have contacted Oireachtas authorities. ...It is understood the application was contemplated in relation to the publication by the website Broadsheet.ie of the full statement made by Ms Murphy in the Dáil about Mr O'Brien's finances. It was contacted by solicitors on Thursday and asked to remove the post, claiming it was in breach of the High Court order in O'Brien v RTÉ. The site was given a deadline of 7pm, but did not remove the post.
  92. ^ "Court rules most of O'Brien report can be broadcast". RTÉ. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015. Lawyers for Mr O'Brien said they were no longer opposing the publication of the script of the proposed report by RTÉ's Business Editor David Murphy. However, IBRC continued its objections to those parts of the script it said referred to legal advice. RTÉ agreed that one paragraph of the script should not be published, but argued that the issue of legal advice was already in the public domain due to remarks made by Pearse Doherty in the Dáil. Judge Binchy ruled there was a difference between what Doherty said in the Dáil and what was in the script and ruled the paragraph objected to by IBRC should not be published.
  93. ^ Denis O'Brien (2 June 2015). "Denis O'Brien: 'I have never experienced this level of hatred'". Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2015. What shocked me most of all was that someone would take files from a major Irish bank, tamper with them and leak them to RTÉ. ... Many decent people who had loans transferred to Nama, or had loans with Anglo Irish Bank/IBRC were thrown to the wolves. ...I have known people who took their own lives, people who lost everything including their homes and their marriages. Also many people who have had nervous breakdowns. The toll all this has taken on the "community" that makes up our country is quite shocking. I think it is regrettable that there is such a feeding frenzy to spread rumours and selectively leak information to point- score, challenge a competitor or simply do somebody down. It is done behind the cloak of secrecy and anonymity and the principle that "my enemy's enemy is my friend". Social media being used for this purpose is crowded with cowards. At a particular point in time when foreign multinationals were at their most nervous about their deposits in Irish banks I decided to be contrarian. I took a decision that Digicel would repatriate its cash deposits from US banks amounting to more than $600 million and place them with two Irish banks as a vote of confidence. Both banks asked my permission to tell a small number of foreign clients of this decision to help stop further outflows and this was granted. At that time, and subsequently, I was talking up Ireland internationally as a recovery story. I wanted to make a significant financial gesture of support at home. This was to show solidarity with Ireland but also to support the efforts of Minister for Finance Michael Noonan in stabilising the Irish banks and slow future outflow of deposits. ...

    I have been dragged into a media frenzy because of RTÉ's attempts to publish my private bank details and Deputy Murphy's desire to distort them. I have never experienced the level of abuse, venom and hatred resulting from taking a stand to protect privacy in relation to my financial affairs.
  94. ^ Ryan, Órla. "After several rows, Sinn Féin votes against IBRC inquiry - but it's still happening". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  95. ^ McDonal, Dearbhail (9 September 2015). "Family first as High Court president to retire early". The Independent. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  96. ^ Carswell, Simon (11 May 2019). "Siteserv inquiry seeks to compel Catherine Murphy to appear over deal claims". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  97. ^ McGee, Harry. "TD who raised issue of Siteserv sale to Dáil criticises inquiry's progress". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  98. ^ Horgan-Jones, Jack. "Catherine Murphy will not appear at Siteserv inquiry". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  99. ^ McCarthy, Justine. "Irish-US Council award for Denis O'Brien". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  100. ^ "The man who makes millionaires". independent. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  101. ^ "High Society - Abigail O'Brien's election". The Phoenix. No. November 2018. 1 November 2018.
  102. ^ Murtagh, Peter. "Questioning O'Brien's charity motives clearly rankles". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  103. ^ Lake, Howard (3 April 2017). "O'Brien foundation gave €5.5 million last year". UK Fundraising. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  104. ^ a b "Board of Directors". Front Line Defenders. 24 October 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  105. ^ "O'Brien sports Special Olympics deal". independent. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  106. ^ "Council of Patrons". Special Olympics. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015.
  107. ^ "Denis O'Brien, a billionaire with a mission not just to make money-- Irish businessman praised by Clinton, NY Times, seeks to make a difference". Irish Central. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  108. ^ "Irish Power and Irish Concern: Denis O'Brien". Irish America. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  109. ^ Strom, Stephanie (6 January 2012). "A Billionaire Lends Haiti a Hand". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  110. ^ "Haiti names Denis O'Brien goodwill ambassador". Silicon Republic. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 24 February 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  111. ^ "Haitian honour for Digicel boss". jamaica-gleaner.com. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  112. ^ O'Shea, James, ed. (8 June 2015). "Clinton's close friend Denis O'Brien battles massive criticism in Ireland". Irish Central. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  113. ^ Padgett, Tim (9 August 2010). "Answering the Call". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  114. ^ "Trump attacks Clinton over links to O'Brien". RTE. 29 September 2016.
  115. ^ O'Carroll, Sinead. "Donald Trump has launched an attack on Hillary Clinton over her links to Denis O'Brien". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  116. ^ "Denis O'Brien establishes scholarship for Irish nationals to study business at Boston College". IrishCentral.com. 11 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  117. ^ "MBA Fellowship Created for Irish Students". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  118. ^ "THE TRILATERAL COMMISSION" (PDF). European Group list at Trilateral website. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2011.
  119. ^ O'Halloran, Marie; Cullen, Paul (1 October 2011). "Campaigns to cost up to €350,000, say candidates". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  120. ^ a b "Denis O'Brien saves €63m in tax stratagem". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  121. ^ Keena, Colm (15 September 2006). "O'Brien makes pre-flotation move to Malta". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015.
  122. ^ Keena, Colm (10 July 2010). "Plucky David or pirate of the Caribbean?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
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