INM shares jump 8% as O'Brien becomes largest shareholder

Independent News and Media - the Irish group in the process of offloading the Independent newspaper to Alexander Lebedev - has jumped 8% this afternoon after it emerged that investor Denis O'Brien has raised his stake in the company significantly. Mobile phone entrepreneur O'Brien has now become the biggest shareholder in INM and has overtaken the O'Reilly family - the first time they have not been the largest investor. The family - which includes Gavin O'Reilly, who took over from his father Sir Anthony at INM in May 2009 - had long been at loggerheads with O'Brien over how they ran the business but the tension has thawed somewhat recently. O'Brien's move to an 18.6% stake from 13.8% has been seen as a vote of confidence in the shares and they are up 0.01 cents, or 8.2%, at €0.145 this afternoon.