SEÁN QUINN and his wife Patricia have stepped down from the board of Quinn Group, the diversified conglomerate founded by the Fermanagh businessman in 1973.
Mr Quinn, who was the company’s executive chairman, said his decision was based on his “need to concentrate in the short term on Quinn family interests outside of Quinn Group Ltd and, in particular, on the interaction of these interests with Anglo Irish Bank”.
The Quinn family owe €2.8 billion to Anglo relating to their disastrous stake-building in the now-nationalised bank. Anglo has a charge over the family’s shares in Quinn Group.
The Quinns owned 28 per cent of Anglo at one point, having built their shareholding through contracts for difference (CFDs), which did not require them to reveal their stakebuilding.
Mr Quinn also said last night that he wanted to avoid any potential conflict of interest associated with the proposed sale of Quinn Insurance, which is being run by joint administrators.
This represents another significant turn of events for Mr Quinn and his business interests. Last week, Quinn Group said it was prepared to sell Quinn Insurance Ltd as it felt the move was in the best interests of the company.
It is understood that Mr Quinn’s decision to step down was influenced by a recommendation from Murdoch McKillop, an interim executive director who was appointed in April to provide financial restructuring services to Quinn Group.
“After 37 years of sustained development, Quinn Group Ltd has a mature, professional and skilled executive as well as a very experienced and independent board,” Mr Quinn said yesterday.
“For now, I want to concentrate on Quinn family interests outside of the group and bring all outstanding matters to a satisfactory conclusion in that regard.”
Mr Quinn’s announcement took staff and others by surprise. It was released to workers on the company’s intranet system yesterday.
Mr Quinn was the driving force behind the growth of Quinn Group over the past 37 years into a business with annual sales of more than €2 billion and 8,000 staff.
What began as a small quarrying operating in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, now has interests that range from cement and glass manufacturing to hotels and pubs.
The Quinn board is left with three executive directors: chief executive Liam McCaffrey, finance chief Dara O’Reilly and Kevin Lunney, group development director. Its non-executives include Seán Quinn’s brother Peter, Brendan Tuohy and Pat O’Neill.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Enterprise and Trade met representatives of Quinn Insurance yesterday to explore how job losses could be minimised. Batt O’Keeffe has appointed Dan Flinter, a former chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, to chair the body that will co-ordinate the activities of the relevant State agencies to the 900 redundancies.
In the North, a response team led by Leslie Ross, an economic development veteran with the former Industrial Development Board, has been set up to help secure the future of the insurer.
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