Assessing the wealth of any individual is a notoriously difficult operation. Many of the monied classes hold their businesses through offshore corporate structures, a move that limits the amount of publicly available information. Many relocate abroad – some to sunny islands in the Caribbean, others to jurisdictions such as Malta, Gibraltar or Switzerland. It is easy to assess someone’s holdings in a publicly traded company, but much less so to value a privately owned business or investment portfolios. Nonetheless, regardless of the metric, Denis O’Brien, the telecoms and media tycoon, has long been regarded as one of country’s richest men.…

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