Quinn and family confirm Anglo stake of almost 15%

SEÁN QUINN and his family have completed their purchase of a shareholding of almost 15 per cent in Anglo Irish Bank, the State’s third-largest bank, their spokesman has confirmed.

The family said last month that they were in the process of “unwinding” their interests in Anglo through contracts for difference (CFDs), a form of share derivative, and that individual family members were buying shares in the bank, giving them an overall stake of almost 15 per cent.

A spokesman for the family confirmed yesterday that they had completed the purchase of the shareholding in recent days.

The spokesman said no formal notification would be made to the stock exchange as no family member had taken a stake of 3 per cent or more – the threshold at which a shareholder must declare an interest in a listed company.

He said the shares were divided among the seven members of Mr Quinn’s immediate family, including his wife, son and four daughters. The stake is worth almost €715 million based on yesterday’s closing share price of €6.28, valuing Anglo at €4.7 billion. The stake makes the family the bank’s largest shareholder.

Anglo’s shares closed up 7.3 per cent yesterday, outperforming the other three Irish-listed banks.

The bank’s share price has risen 44 per cent from a low of €3.98 in trading on July 15th – the day of the Quinn family’s announcement. A stake of almost 15 per cent was then worth close to €465 million.

Mr Quinn, a long-time admirer of Anglo, is estimated to have lost at least €500 million from his investment in the bank, though reports have suggested that his losses may be as high as €1 billion.

His spokesman declined to comment on the size of the losses.

Anglo does not comment on its shareholders or their transactions.

The Fermanagh businessman is thought to have grown his interest in Anglo over the course of last year, when the share price peaked at more than €17.50 in May 2007.

Anglo has shed almost two-thirds of its value since then.

Writing in The Irish Times last Monday, Mr Quinn said he had suffered losses as a result of the decline in the value of Irish shares.

“Not unexpectedly given the significant stock market downturn since mid-2007, the Quinn Group and my family have suffered equity losses. While this is not pleasant, it is not the most important thing to me,” he wrote in an opinion article in which he suggested ways of reviving the economy.