Former Anglo bondholders in line for payout from IBRC liquidation

Every silver lining has a cloud and the prospect of the State recouping cash from the liquidation of IBRC is just the latest example. Minister Michael Noonan will, no doubt, be glad to get an interim payout on the €1 billion-plus owed to the State by the end of this year. In time, the State, and the other ordinary unsecured creditors are likely to get all their money back, such is the cash raised by the IBRC special liquidators.

The problem, of course, is that this means that there will be cash left over to pay some or all of what is owed to the former bondholders of Anglo Irish Bank who have a €280 million claim as part of the liquidation. They will not be paid a cent until the other unsecured creditors get their money. But with the ever-cautious liquidators now saying that the ordinary unsecured creditors are likely to get 75 per cent to 100 per cent of what they are owed, a payday for the junior bondholders looks very likely, even if it may still be some time off.

The IBRC special liquidator is still involved in a host of court cases, notably against the family of Sean Quinn, and must keep cash in reserve for that reason. This could drag a final conclusion out for quite some time yet. But it is all pointing in the direction of cash being left over for the junior bondholders, even if some odd wording in the latest IBRC interim report led some reports to conclude otherwise.

Ironically, the State has some defence in this one. It did impose loses on most of the Anglo junior bondholders. The trouble is some held out, did not accept its offer of 20 cent in the euro and took the case to a London court. The court held that the State’s threat that those who did not accept the buy-out would only get one cent in the euro was punitive and ruled in favour of the bondholders.

Politically, none of this background will matter if and when the bondholders get paid, as predictable outrage will flow at any payout to those who invested in a bank whose collapse cost the State some €30 billion.