The liquidators of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) have pushed out to 2024 the planned sale of Ukrainian and Russian property once owned by the family of businessman Seán Quinn, as a result the Kremlin’s invasion of its western neighbour earlier this year.
“IBRC has assets located in both Russia and Ukraine, and has been affected by the current conflict in the region. At the present time, the [special liquidators] believe that it is extremely difficult to assess the current value of the assets, nor would it be possible to launch a sales process in these countries,” said the liquidators’ ninth annual update report, published on Friday.
The liquidators, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG, “estimate that a sale of the assets in Russia and Ukraine could occur in 2024″, subject to a stabilisation in the meantime of the Russian and Ukrainian markets.
A unit of IBRC owns a six-storey office building in Kyiv and the Univermag shopping mall also in the Ukrainian capital, which had been estimated to have a combined value of between €70 million and €80 million before the invasion.
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Both properties were locked up as Russian troops advanced towards the city but have since reopened. It is understood that 30-40 per cent of the retail units in the shopping centre are currently open.
The subsidiary, QIPG Refinance Ltd, also owns a 20-storey Moscow office block, known as Kutuzoff Tower, and a major logistics centre in Kazan, called Q Park, almost 800km east of the Russian capital. These were estimated to have a combined value of about €100 million before Russia became an economic and financial markets pariah in the West after invading Ukraine.
The liquidators of IBRC, containing the remnants of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, were known to be planning before the war started on putting the Russian assets on the market this year. It was envisaged that the Ukrainian properties would follow as soon as next year.
The liquidators moved two years ago, amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, to extend the wind-up by two years to the end of 2024.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in delays in litigation proceedings and has adversely impacted the value of some of the remaining assets,” the latest report said.
The remaining IBRC loan book had a par value of €3.5 billion at the end of last year and including facilities on assets in various jurisdictions that remain with the company due to ongoing litigation.
The latest report said fees incurred in the liquidation in 2021 were €11.4 million, bringing fees incurred since the beginning of the liquidation in February 2013 to €305 million, The liquidators have forecast that total fees before IBRC is wound up will amount to between €320.5 million and €324.5 million, largely unchanged from the range outlined in the previous report.
