Liberty Insurance wants full control of Quinn insurance

Liberty Insurance wants 100 per cent control over the former Quinn Insurance Group, almost half of which is held by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank.

Its chief executive in Ireland Patrick O'Brien, has told The Irish Times its Boston parent would like to acquire the 49 per cent shareholding in the business held by IBRC "sooner rather than later".

Mr O’Brien declined to comment on how much IBRC’s stake would be worth.

However, he revealed the liquidation of IBRC took Liberty by “surprise”.

Heavily promoting
Liberty has been heavily promoting its brand in Ireland with a €1 million annual sponsorship of RTÉ's Late Late Show . This, however, is coming to an end and the insurer has signed a five-year deal with the GAA to sponsor the All-Ireland hurling and camogie championships.

The Government put IBRC into liquidation in February and the special liquidators at KPMG are to value its assets and either sell them by August or transfer them to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which will dispose of them in time.

In November 2011, Liberty provided €102 million for a 51 per cent stake in the former Quinn insurance business. IBRC took the balance as part of a €200 million recapitalisation.

Mr O’Brien said IBRC’s liquidation took it by “surprise”.

“From a State perspective, I’m sure it was the right thing to do but from our perspective it was a little frustrating. We’d built up a good relationship with IBRC,” he said.

Directly involved
Given his role as head of the Irish insurer, Mr O'Brien is not directly involved in discussions with KPMG on the IBRC stake, which are being handled from Boston.

Mr O’Brien said it was “business as usual” at the Irish insurer but the uncertainty over IBRC was not helpful. “We’re a little unsure where the other shareholding will end up and we wouldn’t be keen to be in Nama,” he said.

IBRC provided €98 million as part of the recapitalisation of the former insurer, which had been placed into administration by the Central Bank. In theory, this was the value placed on its 49 per cent stake in the business.