Swedish court ruling today on Quinn firm

A SWEDISH court will decide today whether to grant a bankruptcy receiver control of the top firm in the Quinn family’s international property group.

Anglo Irish Bank believes Quinn Investments Sweden, the holding company for properties in Russia, Ukraine, India and Turkey, is “hopelessly insolvent” and lacks the assets to repay the 16 billion Swedish kroner (€1.8 billion) it owes the bank.

In new documents filed with the Stockholm District Court, two Quinn firms controlled by an Irish share receiver said Quinn Investments Sweden failed to respond to repeated requests for repayment of loans.

Quinn Finance and Demesne Investments have asked the court to declare Quinn Investments insolvent and to appoint Leif Baecklund, of Sweden’s Setterwalls law firm, as receiver.

The receiver would be empowered to sell the family’s international properties, estimated to be worth €500 million, and use the funds to compensate creditors.

In total, the Quinns owe Anglo Irish almost €2.9 billion, most relating to loans covering the family’s losses on Anglo shares through contracts for difference as a result of the 2008 financial crash.

Though Anglo insists that responsibility for the full loan amount extends to all Quinn companies, lawyers for Quinn Investments have said the firm is responsible only for the funds it received; about €129 million.

Quinn Investments says it could raise more than this amount by selling off three Russian properties, in as little as three months. The firm says it could secure €344 million through the sale.

The heated legal battle took another turn last week when the State-owned bank won a temporary injunction in Ireland against Seán Quinn and various family members. The ruling prevents the family from moving international assets into what Anglo claims is a newly-created “mirror corporate structure”.

Anglo says the structure, dubbed the Cranaghan Foundation, represents a systematic attempt to transfer assets from existing international property firms to the mirror companies for the benefit of the Quinn family, including Seán Quinn’s children and grandchildren.

Court proceedings have also been lodged in Stockholm, where it is alleged that new shares in multiple Swedish subsidiaries were issued to a firm called Indian Trust AB. Peter Quinn, a nephew of Seán Quinn who managed the familys international property interests, is identified as the sole director of the firm, Anglo says.

Citing previous pledge agreements, Anglo says any new shares issued must go to the bank.

Additional legal actions have been taken in Moscow and Nicosia over control of the properties. A separate injunction obtained by the Quinn Family in Cyprus prevents Anglo Irish and the bank’s receiver from changing the board of directors at three of the Quinn family’s Cypriot companies.