Administrators choose to remove Quinn family from board of firm
A joint venture by Anglo Irish Bank and US Liberty Mutual has been identified as the preferred bidders for the Quinn Insurance Ltd, the High Court heard today.
While the deal has yet to be finalised, and the contracts of sale have yet to be signed it is envisaged that there will no job losses in either the Republic or Ireland or Northern Ireland as a result of the sales process.
All 1,570 jobs are to transfer to the new commercial entity. While it is proposed that Quinn Insurance's offices in Navan and Manchester would close, however all 100 staff there will transfer to either Cavan or Blanchardstown. Thirty staff in Manchester are to be offered redundancy.
This morning lawyers for the joint administrators of told the President of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns that under the Boston based Liberty Mutual, which is fifth largest property and casualty insurer in the US and has 45,000 employees worldwide, wholly responsible for the operation of Quinn's insurances business.
Bernard Dunleavy Bl for the joint administrators Michael McAteer and Paul McCann said that Anglo, who are the majority partner would have no involvement in the day-to-day operation of the new company, but would act in a loan recovery capacity.
Counsel said it will take a number of weeks before the proposed sale can be finalised. However counsel told the court that customer's polices will not be affected by the announcement and it is very much a case of business as usual at Quinn.
Mr Justice Kearns welcomed the news, and adjourned the matter to a date in early May.
The joint administrators have been running the insurer since it was placed in administration 12 months ago by the Financial Regulator and have hired Merchant bankers Macquarie Capital Europe Ltd to help sell the group.
Last January, the court heard Macquarie had initially identified 90 prospective buyers for Quinn but that number had been narrowed down and an "end was in sight" in relation to finding a preferred bidder.
The Financial Regulator put the insurer into administration after his office discovered guarantees had been provided by Quinn Insurance subsidiaries as far back as 2005 on Quinn Group debts of more than €1.2bn.
The regulator said the guarantees reduced the amount the firm had in reserve to protect policyholders against possible claims, putting 1.3 million customers at risk.
An investigation into breaches of insurance regulations was launched after the joint administrators were appointed. The regulator is examining breaches of solvency rules and the conduct of individuals in failing to disclose the guarantees, as well as systems failures at the company.
