Belfry and Cavan wind farm outside control of Anglo Irish

INDEPENDENT ASSETS:AMONG THE only assets held by the Quinn family that Anglo Irish Bank does not have control over are the Snugborough wind farm in Co Cavan and The Belfry golf resort in England.

The bank appointed a receiver to take control of the Quinn family’s shares in Quinn Group (ROI), the ultimate parent company of the Quinn group of businesses.

Non-executive directors were appointed to the board of Quinn Group (ROI), which means that Mr Quinn and the Quinn family will not longer have any role in the management, operations or ownership of the Quinn Group.

The group’s operations will not be affected by the receivership and all 2,600 jobs, of which 1,000 are in Ireland, will be protected.

The receiver, Kieran Wallace of KPMG, has also been appointed to the international property group of the Quinn family, which owns shopping centres in Turkey and Ukraine, an 750,000sq ft office building in Hyderabad, India and warehouses in Russia.

Mr Quinn’s nephew, Peter, managed the family’s international interests, while his daughter Colette ran the family’s hotel interests in Ireland, including the Slieve Russell in Co Cavan.

Mr Quinn’s son, Seán jnr, and his daughters Brenda and Aoife were also involved in the business.

Bank of Ireland financed Mr Quinn’s purchase of The Belfry for €270 million in 2005.

As part of the restructuring of the Quinn Group’s €1.28 billion in debts to banks and bondholders, some €80 million in cash will be repaid to the lenders along with €125 million from the sale of some of the property investments.

The disposals will include the Crowne Plaza hotel in Cambridge, England; the Sheraton hotel in Krakow, Poland; and the Hilton in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The lenders’ debts may be reduced further from the sale of the group’s corporate jet and helicopter. Some €750 million of their debt will be restructured into a new five-year loan on the manufacturing businesses.

The remainder of the debt will remain with the main operations company, Quinn Group Ltd, a Northern Irish company, and repaid from asset disposals or refinanced over the next five years.