Five directors leave Quinn Group ROI

FIVE DIRECTORS have left the board of Quinn Group (ROI) Ltd since the end of April, according to documents lodged recently with the Companies Office.

This company is the vehicle for the Quinn family’s shareholding in the troubled diversified conglomerate but has no operational role.

The directors who have stepped down include: Quinn Group chief executive Liam McCaffrey; former GAA president Peter Quinn, who is a brother of Seán Quinn; and non-executives Brendan Tuohy and Pat O’Neill.

But the company has appointed David Mackey as a non-executive director. Mr Mackey is chief executive of Cavan-based property development group P Elliott & Co, having joined that company in 1999 from Quinn Group, where he had been chief executive.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Quinn Group said the board changes were aimed at “effecting the separation of the personal interests of the Quinn family from those of Quinn Group Ltd”.

This is to allow the Quinn family to pursue proposals to potentially acquire Quinn Insurance Ltd, which is in administration, at arms length from the operation of the wider Quinn Group and, thereby, avoid a potential conflict of interests.

The changes are thought to have been influenced by Murdoch McKillop, a corporate restructuring expert who recently joined the board of Quinn Group.

The bulk of the resignations took place on April 28th, when Mr McCaffrey, Mr Tuohy, Mr O’Neill, Dara O’Reilly, Quinn Group’s finance director, and Paddy Murphy all resigned from the board of Quinn Group (ROI).

This was almost one month after the Financial Regulator moved to have joint administrators appointed by the High Court to Quinn Insurance Ltd, the cash engine of the Quinn Group.

The documents filed with the Companies Registration Office show that on May 11th, Mr O’Reilly was reappointed to the board of the company. Two days later Peter Quinn joined the exodus of directors from the board of Quinn Group (ROI) Ltd.

This leaves five directors on the board of Quinn Group ROI – founder and chairman Seán Quinn and his wife Patricia, Mr Mackey, Mr O’Reilly, and Kevin Lunney.

Quinn Group (ROI) is owned equally by the five children of Seán Quinn. But the cement, hotel and glass-making group’s main operational entity is Quinn Group Ltd (NI).

Seán Quinn recently stepped down as chairman of this company. Mr O’Reilly and Mr Lunney also left the company’s board as well as the board of other entities within the Quinn group in “order to independently represent Seán and the family in their interaction with all related stakeholders”.

Mr McCaffrey remains as chief executive of Quinn Group Ltd (NI) while Mr O’Neill has succeeded Seán Quinn as its chairman.

The other members of Quinn’s operational board are Mr McKillop, Mr Murphy, Mr Tuohy and Peter Quinn.