‘Significant sabotage’ at Quinn Group

Quinn Group chief executive Paul O’Brien said the company had suffered “significant sabotage and intimidation” since the appointment of a share receiver last year.

Mr O’Brien said the company had endured 16 serious or very serious incidents. He said the company was now worth “north of” €500m. “The business is alive,” he said.

Mr O’Brien was named CEO in April last year after the former Anglo Irish Bank appointed the share receiver, ousting Seán Quinn and his family from the business.

Speaking at a corporate restructuring summit in Dublin yesterday, which was organised by Business & Finance Media Group, Mr O’Brien said the Quinn Group’s problems started when it moved away from its core competencies into unfamiliar markets. There was a lack of investment in informational technology systems.

Moreover, there were insufficient corporate governance procedures at the group and there was a lack of recognition that the insurance business had to comply with regulatory standards, which meant that any free cash belonged to policyholders, not the wider company.

The banks and bondholders both agreed to enter the Quinn Group into administration. The debt had to be written down by €800m and losses taken by financial institutions. According to the new corporate structure, the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation — formerly Anglo Irish Bank — owns 24.9% of the company and other banks and bondholders own the remainder.

The restructuring process involved putting the right people into senior management positions and convincing key stakeholders that the business could grow over the medium term with the appropriate plans.

But without a restructuring process the business would have been insolvent, said Mr O’Brien. Moreover, the restructuring process saved 2,600 jobs across the group, including 1,100 in the Republic and the North.

— Additional reporting by Bloomberg