The fateful day was the 6th of October 2015. That was when Denis O’Brien started to lose full control of Digicel, his trophy asset. O’Brien had spent the previous six months working on an initial public offering (IPO). The idea was to sell 39 per cent of Digicel (which is 92 per cent owned by O’Brien) on the public market, and use the proceeds to pay down Digicel’s debt. The IPO was set to raise about $1.7 billion, which would have valued O’Brien’s remaining stake at about $3 billion. Of the proceeds, $1.3 billion was earmarked for cutting debt. But…

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