Some of Sean Quinn’s children inform liquidators they don’t own stake in QIH

IBRC wrote to family to clarify claim made in letter

SOME of former tycoon Sean Quinn’s adult children have informed the liquidators of IBRC they have no claim to a stake in the current Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH), the Irish Independent has learned.

That puts them at odds with the position set out in a legal letter sent to QIH threatening legal action if the stake was not transferred to them. The letter, first reported in the Sunday Independent, was sent to QIH on July 24 by solicitors on behalf of Sean Quinn’s five adult children: Sean Jr, Brenda, Aoife, Colette and Ciara.

Sources have confirmed that IBRC wrote to the five Quinn children seeking clarification after learning that the claim to own the stake had been made.

It is understood that IBRC believes owning the stake would put the Quinns in breach of a legal settlement they reached last year with the liquidators of the bank to end a series of related legal cases.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Quinn children committed to give “full disclosure” in relation to assets allegedly previously put beyond the reach of IBRC. That would include the claimed ownership of part of QIH, sources said.

Under the deal with the bank, the Quinns also consented to judgments against them for €88m each but the bank agreed that execution and registration of the judgments would be stayed on condition they help return assets to IBRC. It is understood the bank believes the Quinns’ claimed ownership of a valuable stake in QIH, if correct, should have been part of the settlement but was not disclosed to the bank.

The Irish Independent understands that solicitors for IBRC wrote to the five Quinn siblings seeking clarification of their QIH claim.

The letters sent by IBRC do not accuse the family of breaching the 2019 settlement, it is understood. But the bank believes they would be in breach if the claim to a QIH stake proved correct.

The Irish Independent has learned that some of the Quinn children have replied to the bank, saying they do not own the asset.

The earlier letter to the directors of QIH claimed the stake was owned based on the family’s association with the consortium of business people and former Quinn Group executive who bought the business in 2014 with backing from US investors.

Part of that consortium is called Quinn Business Retention Company (QBRC), a vehicle created by a group of local business people to support the acquisition of the group. The letter sent to QIH says the family is entitled to its stake in the business because QBRC was “formed and run entirely for the benefit of the Quinn family” and to recover control over former Quinn company businesses.

The consortium hired Sean Quinn Snr as a consultant after the 2014 sale but the relationship proved short-lived and the QIH owners have insisted his family was never part of the ownership.

The Quinn family did not respond to a request for comment. IBRC declined to comment, as did QIH.