Denis O'Brien, the 26% shareholder in Independent News & Media, has attacked the company's decision to sell off its interest in the Australasian media group APN News & Media. INM wants to get rid of its 39.1% APN stake to reduce its debt load by about £630m.
In a trading update, reported in the Daily Telegraph and on The Guardian website, INM explained that its operating profits would be down by 11% to 13% for 2008 as the advertising downturn takes its toll.
O'Brien, regarded as a dissident shareholder by the INM board, called the statement "grim reading", adding: "I find it hard to understand why they are considering the sale of one of the group's best-performing assets in a falling market."
He also questioned once again why the group had not disposed of its UK papers, which include The Independent, saying these "continue to be a drain on group resources". O'Brien is INM's second largest shareholder behind chief executive Tony O'Reilly, who holds 28%.
It will be a wrench for INM to sell APN, having been a shareholder in the group - which owns the New Zealand Herald - since 1988. For O'Reilly, says New Zealand's National Business Review, it marks the end of his "20-year love affair with Australasian media."
INM claims to have "a number of unsolicited approaches" for APN, though it's uncertain whether offers will match expectations.
