Quinn cites reliance on banks for collapse

SEÁN QUINN has blamed over-reliance on the banks and their economic predictions for the group’s problems.

Mr Quinn yesterday issued his first statement since he lost control of his manufacturing and insurance business, Quinn Group, to a receiver last week. Anglo Irish Bank has since appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as share receiver to Quinn Group ROI Ltd last Thursday. The group owes €2.88 billion to the bank.

Mr Quinn said “our mistake was to place an overreliance on the Irish banking system and the many predictions for continued sustained growth in the Irish economy from some of the country’s leading financial services experts”.

The debt to Anglo relates mainly to the fact that he bought its shares in 2008, shortly before the financial crisis and the bank’s subsequent collapse.

Under a five-year plan hammered out between Anglo and a range of other creditors, mainly bondholders, who are owed €1.28 billion, the bank will get a majority stake in the group’s manufacturing operations, while other creditors will get a 25 per cent share. Quinn Group ROI controls its cement, building materials, glass and other manufacturing businesses in Ireland and Britain through its ownership of Quinn Group, an operating entity registered in Northern Ireland.

Anglo and Boston-based Liberty Mutual will take over its general insurance business. The group’s problems became public last year when the courts placed the insurance division in administration after it was found to have breached solvency rules.

Mr Quinn said he had a viable alternative to the creditors’ takeover. “My colleagues and I have spent the past year developing a proposal that is economically sustainable and which would allow us to discharge fully all of our family’s obligations to the Irish taxpayer,” he said.

“During this process, we consulted with and secured the support of some of the most respected and experienced individuals in Irish and UK business. I am utterly convinced our proposal could achieve the retention and increase of skilled employment in the group.”

Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Alan Dukes said last week the Quinn proposal was not credible as it would have required the bank to inject €600 million in fresh capital into the group which would have triggered State aid issues.

Mr Quinn said there was no workforce anywhere with the talent and commitment of the group’s staff. He paid tribute to his family, whose steadfast support, he said, had sustained him during a most difficult time.

He asked that reporting of matters related to himself and his family be based on fact rather than speculation. Mr Quinn claimed there had been inaccurate and false reporting in the coverage of his group’s problems.

Mr Quinn and his family owned the group, which he began from a quarrying operation based on his family’s farm in Co Fermanagh.

It is now based in Derrylin, Co Cavan. In 2008, its four divisions had a combined turnover of €800 million and cashflow of around €185 million.