Seen & Heard: €400m sale of Quinn Glass

Glass sale The Sunday Times reported that the group of lenders that owns Aventas, the former Quinn manufacturing group, are moving ahead with the €400 million sale of Quinn Glass, the most valuable asset in the group. First-round bids are due this week for the container glass business, which employs 1,100 people between its facilities in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh and Cheshire, England.

The glass division, rebranded earlier this year as Encirc, has annual revenues of nearly €315 million and valuable contracts with Diageo and Britvic.

Topaz in court

Investec has launched High Court proceedings against Topaz, the country's biggest fuel retailer, which is owned by Denis O'Brien. The South African bank's corporate finance unit is claiming breach of contract for work carried out relating to the financial restructuring of the €3 billion group, according to the Sunday Times.

The legal action was filed last week and a motion to enter the case to the Commercial Court is to be heard today.

Water heave

Senior Coalition figures have discussed the need to replace the chief executive of Irish Water, John Tierney, and the company's board if the Government is to neutralise the ongoing political fallout from the water charges controversy, the Sunday Business Post reported. Sources said the coalition would distance itself from Irish Water over the coming weeks and that the replacement of the company's leadership was inevitable.

O’Leary v Branson

IAG airlines boss Willie Walsh told the Sunday Business Post that he respects Ryanair's Michael O'Leary but has little time for Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson. "I'm not a fan of Branson," Walsh said. "I just don't buy into the PR spin. O'Leary doesn't spin it and can back up the things he says. I respect him for that. I have watched carefully what O'Leary has done. He has been consistently profitable. Virgin isn't."

New mortgage limits

Ulster Bank chief executive Jim Brown told the Sunday Independent that the Central Bank's proposed new limits on how much banks can lend in mortgages would have "unintended consequences" for first-time buyers.

Ballymore debt

Ballymore Properties, one of the biggest debtors of the National Asset Management Agency, has quietly sold a big property development in Bratislava, Slovakia, wiping €500 million from its debt load. The group, headed by Seán Mulryan, off-loaded the Eurovea scheme in recent months to a local developer, according to the Sunday Times.

Filings for Ballymore International Developments, the company behind the scheme, stated that a sale would remove up to €561 million in liabilities from the company's balance sheet. Ballymore sold two sites in London last year for £255 million.