±±¾©Èü³µpk10

O'Brien already owns 5.06% of the company but placed an order to buy 38m shares, at a cost of around €135m (£91.4m) with Goodbody Stockbrokers earlier this week, according to a report in The Irish Times.

The firm had not completed the transaction yesterday, and it could not be established if its traders bought any shares on O'Brien's behalf.

Today, shares in IN&M were up 2.25% at €3.64 (£2.46) in reaction to the news.

O'Brien paid £38.3m when he bought an initial 3% stake in the newspaper group last year. He spent a further £33.9m increasing that to just above 5% in January and February this year.

The IN&M chief executive is billionaire Sir Anthony O'Reilly, who clashed with O'Brien in 2002 when he led a consortium that foiled O'Brien's attempt to buy Irish telecommunications company Eircom and take it private.

O'Reilly holds 28% of the group, but there is speculation that he may step down this year, after IN&M completes the leveraged buyout of Australian media player, APN, in which it holds a 40% interest.

IN&M owns The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. It operates in Ireland, Britain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.