Famously, Cork-born Desmond bought the facility for less than 35m in 1995. Since then, with the continued development of London's docklands and being the nearest airport to the 2012 Olympics, the airport has soared in value. No doubt it could be a future property play - something that has undoubtedly contributed to its high valuation - at least London Mayor Ken Livingstone thinks so. The airport posted turnover of 50m in 2004 and a profit of 11m. That profit figure is expected to have more than doubled this year.

The sale is Desmond's single biggest coup. He's done well, however, from investments in East Digifone and Baltimore Technologies, when he exited the latter before it imploded, leaving many investors shouldering massive losses. Here are some of Desmond's biggest deals, in no particular order:

.Nicknamed 'The Kaiser', Desmond established NCB in 1981 after returning from a brief sojourn in Afghanistan, where he worked for PWC.

NCB grew to be Ireland's largest independent stockbroker. He sold it to Ulster Bank in 1994 for 24.6m.

.In 2005, Desmond sold a 1.5% stake in Manchester United. Friends JP McManus and John Magnier held over 23%. The takeover of the club by the US-based Glazer family saw Desmond gross roughly 17m.

.The billionaire sold two million Baltimore Technologies shares for up to £55m ( 86m) in late 1999, after earlier receiving £6.5 ( 10m) when Baltimore merged with Zergo.

.Sold an 8% stake in Golden Vale for a profit of over 3.8m in 1998. Later acquired an additional 12.6% stake in the company. Golden Vale was bought by Kerry Group in 2001 for 239m, grossing Desmond over 20m. He is thought to have made a profit from that sale of about 10m.

.Big killing from Esat Digifone, in which he had a 1.5% stake. He told the Moriarty Tribunal he made 127m from the sale of the company to British Telecom.

.In 2004 he sold his 6% stake in the UK's second-largest airport operator, TBI, for 40m.

.Earlier this year he sold a long-held position in food company Greencore. Desmond's 21.57% stake was sold to developer Liam Carroll for 170m. Desmond probably netted about 75m on his investment over the years.

.Is estimated to have made a profit of roughly 6m from the takeover battle for Dunloe Ewart.

.A more than 23% stake in Canadian firm Mountain Province Diamonds is currently worth 37.4m. That's up from about 15.5m in 2003 and roughly 7m in 2000.

.Chairman and 40% shareholder in Scottish football club Celtic. Stake is worth £8.3m.

The stock has sunk almost 40% so far this year.

.Received over 6m for his 5% stake in TodayFM in 2001 when the station was purchased by Scottish Radio Holdings.