Conor McGregor’s companies boosted by arrival of Irish private wealth expert

It could signal that the former fighting champion is beefing up the professional credentials of his businesses as his empire continues to grow.

The fighter’s fiancée, Dee Devlin, has also resigned as a director of McGregor Sports and Entertainment, filings with the Companies Registration Office show.

Mr Keane is currently the co-head of wealth management at Quintet Private Bank, and has previously worked as an executive in wealth management at firms including HSBC and Wychwood Capital Partners.

He is from Fethard, in Co Tipperary, and studied finance and economics at Maynooth University.

He has spent all his professional career in Luxembourg. He worked as a senior private banker with Iceland’s Kaupthing Bank there between 2005 and 2009, leaving as it collapsed to join EFG Bank that year.

Mr Keane later served as managing director of Wychwood Capital Partners and then CEO of Wychwood Holdings, according to his LinkedIn account.

In 2015, he joined HSBC as head of key clients and family offices. He then joined Quintet in 2019.

Company filings show Mr Keane was appointed a director of McGregor Sports and Entertainment at the end of February. The filings also show Ms Devlin resigned as company secretary on the same day.

Long-time McGregor Sports and Entertainment finance executive Adrienne Grant has now been named secretary.

Mr Keane has also been made a director of Forged Stout, Forged Stout Production and Forged Stout Distribution.

Efforts to contact Mr Keane and Mr McGregor’s long-time business manager Alan Geraghty were unsuccessful.

Mr McGregor is one of the world’s wealthiest sports stars. He also made a fortune from his Proper No Twelve whiskey, selling most of his stake in 2021 to Proximo Sports for $600m (€549m).

Mr McGregor reportedly made $130m from the deal. Proximo also owns brands including Jose Cuervo tequila and Bushmills whiskey.

The mixed martial arts fighter has been relentlessly promoting his Forged Stout beer since it was launched in 2020. It was initially only available in Mr McGregor’s Black Forge Inn in Crumlin, however, since then it has been heavily promoted in other markets including the United States. Last year, it inked a distribution deal in the UK for the on-trade market.

Last year, Mr McGregor agreed to buy the Porterhouse Brewery in Dublin, which brews his stout.

He has extensive interests not just in the drinks business, but also in hospitality and property.

He is building a nine-storey, 188 apartment complex overlooking the Grand Canal in Dublin. He is also planning to build 72 apartments at a site that includes the former Marble Arch pub in the city, after an earlier proposal for 113 apartments was rejected by planners.

It has been nearly three years since Mr McGregor last headlined a UFC fight and it is likely to be a number of months before he makes a long-touted return.

His leg was broken in his last fight in 2021, when he lost in the first round to rival Dustin Poirier.