‘No proposal by Quinn family for insurance arm’

THE administrators in charge of Quinn Insurance (QIL) have said that there is no takeover proposal by the Quinn family on the table for the business, despite a Quinn Group statement to the contrary.

Earlier this week, QIL’s administrators told staff that there was no Quinn Group involvement with any Anglo Irish Bank interest in the insurance company.

The sale of QIL is expected to be concluded — pending regulatory approval — by the end of this month. It is currently believed that two bidders are in the frame; in the form of Zurich Insurance and a consortium featuring Anglo and US insurer, Liberty Mutual.

However, a statement from the Quinn family — which owes Anglo Irish Bank €2.8bn — released via the Quinn Group website on Tuesday night, claimed that “a detailed proposal” protecting all policyholders, protecting employment in the company and facilitating the repayment of the debt has been with the Anglo board for some time.

Yesterday, however, QIL’s administrators told staff that it had received clarity from Anglo that the nationalised lender is not considering teaming up with any Quinn family proposal, in respect of a bid for QIL.

The latest communiqué with staff is understood to underline Anglo’s involvement with an international lender (widely believed to be Liberty Mutual) and deny that any proposal from the Quinn family was submitted to the administrators as part of the QIL sales process.

It said that as any Quinn family “proposal” has no funding, no real proposal can be in existence and that no such proposal has the support of Anglo Irish Bank.

Tuesday’s Quinn family statement claimed that their proposal had both cross-border and cross-party support and would keep the insurance business in Irish ownership, with a newly established independent board running it on a day-to-day basis.

The sale of the company — currently being managed by international investment bank, Macquarie — is likely to reach a conclusion in the next two to four weeks.