THE FAMILY of Seán Quinn have moved to protect their international property empire from Anglo Irish Bank by issuing new shares in seven subsidiaries in Sweden to a company controlled by them.
Seven subsidiaries of Quinn Investments Sweden, the holding company behind the family’s properties in Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and India, have issued new shares to a company called Indian Trust AB, which they also control.
Peter Quinn, a nephew of Mr Quinn who was responsible for the family’s international properties before Anglo appointed a receiver to the Quinn Group last April, has been appointed a director of the seven Swedish subsidiaries.
The aim of issuing new shares is to circumvent the bank’s application in the Stockholm District Court to appoint a bankruptcy receiver to take control of Quinn Investments Sweden. The court will make its decision on July 5th.
The case was before the court last Friday and again on Tuesday.
The court ruled in favour of the Quinn family on May 25th that the decision to remove the board of directors of Quinn Investments Sweden by the receiver appointed by Anglo was invalid and would hinder the rights of shareholders.
The bank appealed the decision but the court rejected the appeal last Friday. Anglo is proceeding with its application to appoint a receiver to the Swedish company.
The Quinn family decided to issue new shares in the company’s subsidiaries to another firm to protect the subsidiaries from further action from Anglo, according to a source close to the family.
The Quinn family owe Anglo close to €2.9 billion. The bank claims that a receiver should be appointed to Quinn Investments Sweden to sell properties worth about €500 million for the repayment of some of the loans.
There is a dispute between the bank and the family about how quickly money can be raised from the sale of properties in the Russian cities of Moscow, Kazan, Ufa and Yekaterinburg.
Quinn Investments has argued that as much as €344 million could be raised in three months from the sale of the Russian properties. This has been disputed by Anglo executive Richard Woodhouse. He has told the Stockholm court in evidence that it could take between 18 months and three years to realise the properties.
Lawyers for Anglo claimed that the Swedish company is “hopelessly insolvent” and has no possibility of repaying the massive loans due to the nationalised bank.
The Quinn family are taking a separate legal action against Anglo in Dublin to overturn the Quinn Group receivership. They claim Anglo’s lending to the family was “tainted with illegality” as the loans were provided to prop up its share price during the 2008 crash.
Anglo’s lawyers claim that the Quinns did not question the validity of the loans until the bank demanded repayment in 2011.
