Quinn takes the Smart option

FERMANAGH entrepreneur Sean Quinn yesterday jumped on Smart Telecom’s mobile bandwagon as he joined forces with Kingspan director Brendan Murtagh to provide €56 million to fund the company’s plans for a new 3G network.

Smart, which caused a major upset last month by beating eircom and its subsidiary Meteor in the race for the country’s final 3G mobile licence, said it would use the money to make the initial payments necessary to secure the licence.

Quinn Funding, an associate company of the Quinn Group, Mr Quinn’s business empire that spans the cement, glass, insurance and leisure sectors, will provide a loan of €28.35 million to Smart. The loan can be converted into Smart shares, which are quoted on London’s Alternative Investment Market at the end of its two-year term. Quinn Funding will be able to take over Smart’s mobile business and its assets if Smart fails to meet its loan obligations. Smart also said yesterday that it had agreed a 6-month bank loan, also for €28.35 million, that will be personally underwritten by Mr Murtagh, who holds a stake of around 15% in the company. The agreement means that Smart’s lenders can pursue Mr Murtagh if it fails to repay the loan and the bank is unable to reclaim its money through the sale of Smart Mobile assets. Smart will pay Mr Murtagh 285,000 for his role in putting the bank finance in place.