Liquidator appointed to Quinn Group holding company

A LIQUIDATOR has been appointed to the former holding company behind the Quinn group of businesses previously owned by the five adult children of businessman Seán Quinn.

Quinn Group (ROI) Ltd was wound up last month by the share receiver, Kieran Wallace of KPMG, appointed to the company by the former Anglo Irish Bank, which is owed €2.88 billion by Mr Quinn and his family.

A spokesman for Quinn Group described the liquidation as a move to “tidy things up”. A new holding company, Quinn Group Holdco, has been set up to take control of the group and its ultimate beneficial owners are the syndicate of banks and financial investors which were owed €1.3 billion by the Quinn Group and Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, the new name for Anglo.

The lenders to the Quinn Group and IBRC seized control of the Quinn Group from the Quinn family on April 14th, 2011. Mr Quinn’s five adult children and his wife have issued legal proceedings over the appointment of the share receiver to Quinn Group (ROI) and claim that €2.34 billion of the loans provided by the former Anglo Irish Bank are invalid as they were advanced to prop up the bank’s share price.

In a statement, Mr Quinn’s four daughters – Colette, Ciara, Aoife and Brenda – said they were “truly shocked and outraged” at the liquidation. They described it as a “calculated and sinister plan to ensure we will not be in a position to regain control of our businesses”.

“The actions are horrific in circumstances where the very legality of the takeover of our companies is currently awaiting determination before the High Court,” they said.

Quinn Group (ROI) was the ultimate holding company of 95 firms which comprise the Quinn Group which was involved in a diverse range of businesses, from the manufacture of cement and concrete products, glass and radiators and plastics, to insurance, hotels, property and financial services.

The Quinn Group spokesman said this company was no longer connected to Quinn Manufacturing Group Holdco, the firm behind Mr Quinn’s former manufacturing businesses, which was restructured on December 2nd, 2011.

Mr Quinn was declared bankrupt in Dublin in January after IBRC secured a judgment of €2.16 billion against him on personal guarantees he had given on loans advanced by Anglo to Quinn Finance, one of the main companies in the Quinn Group.

The Quinn Group spokesman said its former holding company in Northern Ireland, which is also called Quinn Group Ltd and was previously owned by the Quinn family, has also been wound up as a members’ voluntary liquidation.

A statement posted on the Quinn Group’s website yesterday said Quinn Group (ROI) Ltd and Quinn Group Ltd were shell companies with no commercial activity.

“A number of other shell companies with no trading activity are expected to go through the same process in the coming months,” the statement said. “This has no impact whatever on our trading manufacturing companies.”