THE NON-INSURANCE subsidiary companies of Quinn Insurance – which could be worth up to half a billion euro – could be sold off as separate entities, according to the company’s administrators.
The development comes on the back of an overhaul of the board membership of various subsidiaries of Quinn Insurance which have seen Quinn family members exit the board and administrators Paul McCann and Michael McAteer appointed in their place.
Quinn Insurance is the 100 per cent shareholder of 25 companies.According to the latest accounts for Quinn Group – the parent company of Quinn Insurance – the value of the company’s non-financial insurance assets was €585 million as of December 31st, 2008. This included land and buildings assets of €180 million, hotel buildings worth €111 million and a €200 million wind farm.
According to the administrators, any potential purchaser of Quinn Insurance has the right to acquire some or all of the subsidiaries of Quinn Insurance, as all 25 of the Quinn Insurance subsidiaries are included in its assets. However, it is unlikely that any potential buyer would be interested in these assets, given their tangential connection to the insurance business.
One possibility is that some or all of the subsidiaries are transferred to the Quinn Group, the administrators said, although they stressed that a range of scenarios are possible.
The administrators are now directors of all 25 Quinn Insurance subsidiaries. Eleven are non-trading companies, seven are holding companies and seven are trading companies. Murdoch McKillup, a corporate restructuring expert who was appointed to the board of Quinn, has also been appointed to 13 of the companies.
Collette Quinn, daughter of Seán Quinn, and Kevin Lunney, a senior executive at Quinn Group, have resigned as directors of Quinn Property Holdings, Quinn Hotels, Quinn Iveagh Fitness Ltd, Quinn Windfarm Ltd, Quinn Public Houses and Quinn Logistics. Seán Quinn and Kevin Lunney have also resigned from Quinn Direct Properties.
Collette Quinn is involved with the group’s hotel businesses. A spokesman for her said the changes would not affect her involvement in the running of these businesses. Quinn Hotels is the holding company for Buswells Hotel. The Slieve Russell in Cavan is not owned by a Quinn Insurance subsidiary company.
While the removal of Quinn family members from the board of Quinn Insurance-controlled companies cements a distance between the Quinn family and the companies, it could aid any future bid by the family for the companies.
Earlier this year senior executives of Quinn Group, as well as Seán Quinn, resigned from the board of the group “in order to independently represent Seán and the family in their interaction with all related stakeholders”.
It was concerns over guarantees given by some of these subsidiaries over the debts of the ultimate parent company, Quinn Group, that prompted the regulator to move against the group in March.
The appointment of administrators to the board of the 25 subsidiary companies is unusual. Typically receivers do not take on the role of directors. However, according to insolvency experts Quinn Insurance is a unique case, particularly as it is being run under administration rather than receivership or examinership.
