Patrick McKenna takes £100m from Ingenious Media

Patrick McKenna, financier to Britain's showbusiness elite, has paid himself more than £100m from the profits of his privately held company, Ingenious Media.

McKenna, an accountant and former chief executive of Lord Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group, is chair and sole owner of Ingenious, whose clients have included Robbie Williams and Peter Gabriel.

Last year McKenna did not collect his usual dividend, but instead left £162m of cash in the bank, according to records filed at Companies House in March 2007. As part of a recent restructure of his shareholding it is understood he has now paid himself from the cash reserves.

Ingenious Media Ltd is being replaced as the main holding company by Ingenious Media Holdings Plc, and McKenna's fellow directors have joined him on the new board. They include former Capital Radio boss David Mansfield, showbusiness lawyer Michael Simkins, the head of Ingenious' corporate finance division Nick Harvey and head of its management consulting business Kip Meek, previously a high-flier at Ofcom.

It is understood that ingenious has a scheme under which staff own shares in the business, but none of these holdings attract dividends or are attached to voting rights. However, the company is expected to seek a public listing, at which point staff will be able to cash in their shares. A spokesman for Ingenious declined to comment.

McKenna founded Ingenious 10 years ago as a specialist media investment advisory business. Its clients have included RDF Media and Shed Media, whom it helped to list on Aim in 2005. (...)

By Juliette Garside 03/05/2008 Telegraph.co.uk