A liquidator has been appointed to the former holding company behind the Quinn Group of businesses that were previously owned by the five adult children of bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn.
Quinn Group (ROI) Limited was wound up last month by the receiver, Kieran Wallace of KPMG, appointed to the company by the former Anglo Irish Bank, which is owed €2.88 billion by Mr Quinn and his family.
A spokesman for Quinn Group described the liquidation as a move to “tidy things up,” however, in a statement the Quinn family called it as a "new low' by Anglo's successor, the Irish Bank Resolution Corp (IBRC)
A new holding company, Quinn Group Holdco, has been set up to take control of the group and its ultimate beneficial owners are the syndicate of banks and financial investors were owed €1.3 billion by the Quinn Group and IBRC.
The lenders to the Quinn Group and IBRC seized control of the Quinn Group from the Quinn family on April 14th, 2011. Mr Quinn’s five adult children and his wife have issued legal proceedings over the appointment of the share receiver to Quinn Group (ROI) and claim that €2.34 billion of the loans provided by the former Anglo Irish Bank are invalid as they were advanced to prop up the bank’s share price.
Quinn Group (ROI) was the ultimate holding company of 95 companies which comprise the Quinn Group which was involved in a diverse range of businesses from the manufacture of cement and concrete products, glass and radiators and plastics, to insurance, hotels, property and financial services.
The spokesman for the Quinn Group said that this company was no longer connected with Quinn Manufacturing Group Holdco, the company behind Mr Quinn’s former manufacturing businesses, which was restructured on December 2nd, 2011.
The spokesman also said the group’s former holding company in Northern Ireland, which is also called Quinn Group Limited and was previously owned by the Quinn family, has also been wound up as a members’ voluntary liquidation.
Mr Quinn was declared bankrupt in Dublin in January after IBRC secured a judgment of €2.16 billion against him on personal guarantees he had given on loans advanced by Anglo to Quinn Finance, one of the main companies in the Quinn Group.
In a statement issued late this afternoon Séan Quinn's children said they were shocked and outraged at what they called a "calculated and sinister plan" to ensure the family would not be able to regain control of the businesses.
"It is truly devastating that the company our father spent a lifetime building in the local area has been divided up and distributed like spare parts. The company has been given away to foreign Banks by Anglo who have no allegiance whatsoever to the local economy, its future growth and sustainability," the statement said.
"This unnecessary liquidation compounds the wrongs perpetrated by Anglo who continue to decimate everything they touch while continuing to line the pockets of professional advisors and foreign bondholders in the process."
