Legal block to junior Anglo creditors

Any paybacks due to junior bondholders at Anglo will be legally blocked, it has emerged as the Government scrambled to try and end days of confusion.

Stung by a backlash against the prospect of such bondholders attempting to gain up to €280m from the liquidated bank, renamed IBRC, Coalition sources said emergency moves would be taken to prevent the money being paid.

With Taoiseach Enda Kenny saying he could not foresee the payouts happening, it marked a dramatic shift from comments last week by Finance Minister Michael Noonan that the unsecured junior bondholders would be “legally entitled” to awards if there was sufficient capital left from the bank’s wind-up.