Cameron O'Reilly
Cameron O'Reilly (born 1964) is a Dublin-born businessman with Irish and Australian citizenship, the son of Irish media magnate Tony O'Reilly and Australian Susan Cameron. He is current Managing Director of the Bayard Group, including the world's largest electricity metering supplier and with revenues of over 1.2 billion USD.
Life
O'Reilly was brought up in Ireland, England and the USA, finishing school at Clongowes Wood near the then main family home, Castlemartin in Kildare, taking his Leaving Certificate in 1983. He then attended Oxford University, graduating with an honours degree in politics, philosophy and economics, having represented the university in tennis, rugby and and punting. He also represented Oxford in debating and was treasurer of the Oxford Union.
Early career
O'Reilly worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs from the mid-1980's to 1988. He then returned to Ireland to work for a few months at Independent News and Media, before being moved to Australia, to a sales role on the regional side of APN News & Media, in which Independent had invested. He was also appointed to the APN board. After working in sales from 1988 to 1991, he was appointed general manager of the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin from 1991 to 1992, then Deputy CEO of APN.
In May 1996, O'Reilly was appointed as CEO of APN, and directed a programme of acquisition and development over several years.
With his wife, Ilse, O'Reilly became involved in the work of a number of charitable organisations, and he is a life governor of the Australian Ireland Fund.
In October 1999, O'Reilly announced that he would leave his executive role at APN to pursue private business interests, and he did so in July 2000, moving to Grenoble in France. He remains a non-executive director of APN and of Independent News and Media.
Later career
In 2002, O'Reilly returned to Australia, where he received the Governor Peace Award in November[1]. Then, in May 2003, he launched investment house Bayard Capital, with 100 million Australian dollars from various shareholders, including John Fairfax and the government of Singapore[2] He himself sold two thirds of his APN shares in early 2004 to invest in Bayard, which spent over 200 million USD on acquisitions in its first year, finishing that year with 3500 employees in 27 countries and annual sales of over 600 million USD.
O'Reilly developed Bayard with a focus on investments that leveraged shortage of energy and water, including metering technology, and by 2008, the Bayard group of companies employed over 5000 people across 30 countries, with a turnover of in excess of 1.2 billion USD and EBITDA earnings in excess of 200 million USD[3]. One of its major holdings is Landis + Gyr, the world's largest electrical metering company. Tony O'Reilly is, in 2008, listed as a shareholder in Bayard.
Cameron O'Reilly currently resides in Sydney, Australia.
Sources
- Dublin, 31 October 2004: The Sunday Business Post, "The Son That Got Away", Gavin Daly.
References
- ^ "Cameron O'reilly and Ilse O'Reilly at their table having received The Governor Peace Trophy" - see caption
- ^ Sydney, Australia, March 13 2003: Asia Pulse, "Former APN News & Media Ltd Chief Executive Cameron O'Reilly has raised more than A$100 million through his privately owned Bayard Capital Partners Pty Ltd."
- ^ [www.bayard.com.au] About Us, checked March 26 2008