Written answers

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Department of Finance

Financial Services Regulation

8:00 pm

Photo of Luke FlanaganLuke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Finance the new corporate structure that was put in place to facilitate the restructuring of the Quinn Group debt; if new companies were formed for the division of Quinn Group assets and liabilities when it was divided into manufacturing and non-core parts; the percentage of the €588 million now owed by Quinn Group under the non-core entity that has been written off; if the bondholders still have a call on the entire €588 million; the value that was placed on the entire Quinn Group when the bondholders were allocated a 25% shareholding; if any other entity is owed any part of the €588 million which was transferred to the non-core part of the new arrangement and if this debt appears as an asset on the balance sheet of any other company or person; if the Quinn Group records any portion of the €588 million debt on its balance sheet or on the balance sheet of any of its subsidiaries; the fee structure being charged by the receivers who now run the Quinn Group; if any part of the €588 million of the Quinn Group debt has been moved to the balance sheet of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation formerly Anglo Irish Bank in the overall deal with the banks and bondholders; if so, if this has increased the liabilities for the taxpayers of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27577/11]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that discussions in relation to the restructuring of Quinn Group debt are ongoing. We have been informed by the bank that details of the ongoing discussions with the senior creditors are commercially sensitive. Nonetheless, the bank has informed me that the proposed arrangements envisage the establishment of some new entities. The split, or tranching, of the debt has yet to be decided. We understand from the bank that it is not envisaged that any of this Quinn debt will be written off and that the bondholders will continue to have a call on the debt due from the Quinn Group. The Quinn debt will therefore remain as an obligation of the Quinn Group to the senior creditors and can, if appropriate, be carried by subsidiaries of the Quinn Group. The bank has made it clear that it has not taken on any of the Quinn Group's obligations to the senior creditors. The bank has also indicated that the valuation of the Quinn Group for the purposes of this proposed arrangement is commercially sensitive and cannot be disclosed. Finally, we understand from the bank that KPMG, as the Share Receivers appointed by Anglo Irish Bank, are paid in a manner customary with arrangements of this nature.

The Deputy will be aware that this restructuring is very much a commercial decision for the bank and one to which I have no direct input and is intended to give the Quinn Group grounds for hope of a viable future. It is important to state clearly to the House that a viable future however depends to a large degree on market conditions and a willingness by everybody to engage wholeheartedly with the new ownership arrangements, and to begin to put their energies into growing the business. Market conditions and cooperation generally are critical to the performance of the Group and to the retention of jobs in the local communities on both sides of the border.

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