Cameron O'Reilly

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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. Having managed one of Australia's largest press groups, he is currently Managing Director of the Landis+Gyr, formerly the Bayard Group, which includes the world's largest electricity metering supplier, and has revenues of over 1.2 billion USD.

Contents

[edit] Life

O'Reilly was brought up in Dublin and Kilcullen in Ireland, London in England and Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, 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 punting. He also represented Oxford in debating and was treasurer of the Oxford Union[1].

[edit] Early career

O'Reilly worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs from the mid-1980s to 1988. He then returned to Ireland to work for a few months at Independent News and Media, the public company led by his father, 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 of directors. APN at that time was already a major Australian press group, leading in local newspapers. 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, increasing interests in radio and other channels, while approaching the internet area cautiously[2].

O'Reilly became involved in the work of a number of charitable organisations, some with his wife Ilse (who also has her own charitable interests, including a refuge for women), 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. He is also a director of IRESS Market Technology.

[edit] Later career and life

In 2002, O'Reilly returned to Australia, where he received the Governor Peace Award in November[3]. He also became a director of Gazal Corporation Limited (2002-2005), one of Australia's leading drapers.

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[4] 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 growing shortages 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[5]. One of its major holdings was Landis + Gyr, the world's largest electrical metering company, and the entire group was renamed to Landis+Gyr in early 2008. O'Reilly's father, Tony O'Reilly is, in 2008, listed as a shareholder in Landis+Gyr.

Cameron O'Reilly currently resides in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and children, where he is occasionally mentioned in reports of the social scene. He is a director of Sydney Theatre Company and the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, and a board member of the Central Advisory Board of the Salvation Army in Australia[6].

In June 2008, O'Reilly received the International Irish Business Person of the Year Award from Dublin-based Business and Finance Magazine[7] and in may spoke about his company's plans to partially float.[8]

[edit] Sources

  • Dublin, 31 October 2004: The Sunday Business Post, "The Son That Got Away", Gavin Daly.
  • Sydney, Australia, 12 August 2003: Sydney Morning Herald, "O'Reilly clocks up first asset for Bayard", Ian Porter

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dublin, 31 October 2004: The Sunday Business Post, "The Son That Got Away", Gavin Daly.
  2. ^ Dublin, 31 October 2004: The Sunday Business Post, "The Son That Got Away", Gavin Daly.
  3. ^ "Cameron O'reilly and Ilse O'Reilly at their table having received The Governor Peace Trophy" - see caption
  4. ^ 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."
  5. ^ www.bayard.com.au About Us, retrieved March 26 2008
  6. ^ Sydney, Australia: [1] Cameron O'Reilly profile on Board of Directors page of APN website, retrieved 27 March 2008.
  7. ^ Dublin, Ireland: The Irish Independent, 6 June 2008, Ailish O'Hora: O'Reilly Scoops Top Business Accolade<http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/oreilly-scoops-top-business-accolade-1399559.html>
  8. ^ Dublin, Ireland: The Irish Independent, 21 May 2008, Ailish O'Hora: Landis+Gyr plan to raise up to $750m with US share issue<http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/landisgyr-plan-to-raise-up-to-750m-with-us-share-issue-1381595.html>