Ansbacher sold for €201m to Qatar bank

ANSBACHER BANK, which was at the centre of one of the largest tax evasion scandals in Irish history, has been sold to the Qatar National Bank.

Ansbacher has been on the market for some months and its parent company, the South Africa-based First Rand said that it fetched a price of £135 million (€201m).

First Rand said it decided to sell the Cayman Islands-based Ansbacher because it no longer fits in with its expansion plans, and believes it will perform better in the hands of new owners.

Under the deal, Qatar National Bank will acquire all the issued shares in Ansbacher, which has operations in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Channel Islands, Switzerland and Britain, at a profit of €22 million to the net asset value of the business.

Earlier this year Ansbacher (Cayman) Limited reached an agreement with the Revenue Commissioners to settle its tax liabilities in Ireland, though it maintained that it “did not have any liability to Irish tax”.

It has been almost two years since the long-awaited report into Ansbacher was published.

It disclosed that close to 200 people held Ansbacher accounts.

The report concluded that there was some evidence to suggest that the Irish-related business might have breached certain parts of the tax code, though there were a good number of people who held legitimate Ansbacher accounts.

First Rand purchased the Henry Ansbacher Group in 1988. The Ansbacher (Cayman) operation, which was formerly known as Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust (GMCT), formed the centre of the Ansbacher investigation.