Bank boss: No doubting partial write-off of €3bn

ANGLO Irish Bank’s chief executive has said there is “no doubt” there will be some write-off of the near €3 billion that it is owed by Seán Quinn and his family.

Mike Aynsley also said there are no redundancies planned at the Quinn Insurance company.

Anglo announced the appointment of a share receiver yesterday to take control of the Quinn family’s stake in Quinn Group (ROI) Ltd, which is the ultimate parent company of the Quinn Group.

The move means Seán Quinn and his family no longer have a role in the management or ownership of the group.

Mr Aynsley said: “We’ve got to make our decisions in the best interest of the taxpayer and the best interests of the bank.”

Anglo is owed €2.88bn by the Quinn family while other lenders to the Quinn Group are owed around €1.28bn. Mr Aynsley said part of the plan involved the lenders to Quinn Group taking some losses.

He said that this is a “very very difficult situation” given that Mr Quinn spent an “enormous component” of his life building up the Quinn business.

Mr Aynsley said: “The inability to be able to move forward and renegotiate effective debt restructurings with the bondholders and the lenders and the total level of associated debt was putting the company at risk.”

Mr Aynsley described the amount of money owed to it by the Quinns as “enormous”.

He said the bank had taken an approach which protected the businesses and paved the way for maximising the repayment of debt to the taxpayer over time.

He said the appointment of the share receiver would have no impact on the day- to-day running of the company.

“A share receiver is different from normal receiver, which takes over the assets of a company,” he said.

A firm restructuring plan for the company has now been put in place, Mr Aynsley said.

Quinn Insurance is to be sold to a joint venture between American insurer Liberty Mutual and Anglo, while all other Quinn businesses are to be operated as going concerns, to try and recover the debt owed to Anglo.

However, given that the shares of all members of the Quinn family are being taken from them, it is expected their personal debt to Anglo of €2.88bn will have to be written off.

The Quinn family hold a 28% stake in Anglo but this is worthless following the 2009 nationalisation of the bank.