STATE-OWNED ANGLO Irish Bank has held talks with US insurer Liberty Mutual about a possible joint approach to take control of Quinn Insurance in a bid to secure repayment of €2.8 billion in loans from the Quinn family.
The Irish Timesreported last month that the bank was working on a revised proposal to take over Quinn Insurance in partnership with a foreign insurer and, separately, that Liberty Mutual had expressed an interest in the firm.
Anglo and Liberty have since held exploratory discussions with a view to assessing whether they could formulate a joint approach to take over Quinn Insurance.
Both Anglo and Liberty had no comment on the discussions.
The nationalised bank and the insurance company, the fifth largest motor, home and general insurer in the US, are among 47 parties to have expressed an interest in Quinn Insurance to the firm’s joint administrators.
The administrators have handed over management of the sale process to Australian investment bank Macquarie, which is assessing international interest in the Cavan-based insurance firm.
Anglo hopes that by teaming up with a major international insurer, it could allay the concerns of the Government and the Financial Regulator about the bank’s ability both to fund and manage a takeover of Quinn Insurance.
The bank’s proposal is still being finalised and is likely to face significant regulatory and competition hurdles at home and EU level.
Under the bank’s plan, Anglo would temporarily share ownership of the insurance company with the international insurer, which would ultimately take outright ownership of the company.
In a separate development, it is understood that the regulator has been told by Quinn Group (ROI) that it was not aware of any solvency issues relating to guarantees given by Quinn Insurance subsidiaries on debts of €1.2 billion owing by the wider group to a syndicate of banks and bondholders.
Quinn Group (ROI) is used by Seán Quinn’s family to hold their shareholding in the overall group but has no operational role.
A spokeswoman for the regulator had no comment to make.
The regulator is investigating who had knowledge of the guarantees, which pushed the company below regulatory solvency levels and led to the appointment of joint administrators to the company.
The guarantees, which date back to 2005, were only made known to the regulator last March.
Responses from other key companies in the group, including Quinn Group (NI), about their knowledge of the guarantees, are expected to be submitted to the regulator by the end of the month.
The regulator is also assessing management links and cross-directorships between the companies.
Seán Quinn has said that he would be able to repay the €2.8 billion his family owes to Anglo within seven years if Quinn Insurance remained under the control of Quinn Group.
