| Seán Quinn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 December 1947 Derrylin, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland |
| Residence | Ballyconnell, Tullyhaw, County Cavan, Ireland |
| Net worth | Unknown (Bankrupt) |
| Spouse | Patricia Quinn |
| Children | Seán Quinn, Colette Quinn, Ciara Quinn, Aoife Quinn and Brenda Quinn |
Seán Quinn (born 5 December 1947) is an Irish businessman and conglomerateur, now bankrupt. In 2008 he was the richest person in Ireland, but he now has debts. The son of a small farmer, he left school at 14 years of age unable to read or write.[1][2]
The Sunday Times Rich List in 2008 estimated his personal worth to be €4.722 billion or £3.73 billion, thereby making him the richest person in Ireland.[3] Forbes magazine's 2008 Rich List listed him again as the richest person in Ireland, in 164th place amongst the wealthiest individuals in the world.[4] His net worth, as of February 2008, was estimated at $6.0 billion - or approximately £3.084 billion.
In November 2005 the Quinn Group, which was then privately owned by the Quinn family, was elsewhere estimated to be worth between €4 billion and €5 billion.[5] In 2007 the group made a pre-tax profit of £439m.[6][7] In April 2011 Kieran Wallace of KPMG was appointed as share receiver to Anglo Irish Bank (to which the Quinn Group owe over €2.8 billion) and took control of the Quinn family’s equity interest in Quinn Group. Sean Quinn and the Quinn family no longer have any role in the management, operations or ownership of the Quinn Group.[8] Quinn was declared bankrupt on 11 November 2011.[9]
Quinn is married to Patricia and they have five children - Seán, Colette, Ciara, Aoife and Brenda.
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In an interview with Ireland's Sunday Business Post, Seán Quinn attributed his initial success to the contacts he developed through the Gaelic Athletic Association. These contacts enabled him to build a company spanning both sides of the Irish border when, in 1973, he borrowed £100 and started extracting gravel from his family 23-acre (93,000 m2) farm, washing it and selling it to local builders. The company was called Seán Quinn Quarries Ltd. From this came Quinn Cement, the basis of his wealth. In recent years Quinn diversified with his Quinn Group playing a leading role in Ireland's hospitality industry, setting up Quinn Hotels. The centrepiece hotel was the Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell, County Cavan. He maintains interests in Ireland's glass, radiator and plastics industries with Quinn Glass, based in Fermanagh, and Quinn Lite Pac, based in County Longford. As of 2009, the Quinn Group employed more than 5,500 people throughout Ireland.[10]
Quinn Financial Services, founded in 1996, includes the Quinn Direct insurance business. With its headquarters in Cavan, it made €123 million profit in the first six months of 2006 (up 38% on the previous year), on sales of €386 million between January and June 2006.[11]
In January 2007 the Quinn Group purchased Ireland's second biggest health insurance provider, Bupa Ireland for €150 million in a deal that saved BUPA from leaving Ireland's health insurance industry.[12] In the same month Quinn increased his share holding in the Anglo Irish Bank to approximately 5%, for an equivalent value of €570 million - financed through the group's equity and through a deal with the Swiss based giant Credit Suisse.[13]
Throughout 2007 peaking in July 2008 Quinn increased his family's stake to 15% in Anglo Irish Bank. The bank along with all financial institutions in Ireland saw its share price collapse in the latter half of 2008, and on 15 January 2009 the Irish government announced it had taken control of the bank. Shares were trading for as little as 20c (from a high of €10.15c) before the takeover.
Forbes Rich List had estimated that the Quinn family's net worth took a major hit in 2008-09, with Denis O'Brien replacing Quinn as Ireland's wealthiest person.[14]
A large part of the subsequent loss can be linked to the well-publicised, near collapse of the Anglo Irish Bank, which wiped out at least €2.8 billion of the family's wealth. It is widely believed that the Quinn Family had acquired up to a 25% stake, mainly through contracts for difference in the bank which had to be nationalised by the Irish government to prevent complete collapse. Quinn admitted in an RTÉ Prime Time interview that it had "set the company back 2 to 3 years".[15]
In 2008 the shares or contracts for difference bought in Anglo Irish Bank dropped in value and the bank had to find a buyer for Quinn's shares. A group of clients known as the "Golden Circle" bought the shares, and, controversially, the bank lent them €451 million to buy them. The €451 million was never repaid as the Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy emerged, following which the bank was nationalised in 2009.
In 2008, Quinn Insurance was levied a record €3.25 million fine from the Financial Regulator in the Republic of Ireland with Seán Quinn personally being fined €200,000. These fines were related to loans issued from Quinn Insurance to an associated company that he controlled. "These loans breached insurance regulations and as a result of this the Financial Regulator has sanctioned Quinn Insurance and myself. I accept complete responsibility for this breach of regulation." [16] The fines arose from a failure to notify the regulator of a loan of €288 million from Quinn Insurance to other firms in his group. The cash was used by the Quinn family to cover falling stock market investments and finance share-buying in Anglo Irish Bank. On the back of the fines, Quinn stepped down from the board of Quinn Insurance and a number of other Quinn Group boards announcing plans to restructure the boards to reflect those of a public company. In March 2010 The High Court in Dublin ruled that Quinn Insurance should be placed into administration.[17][18]
Quinn Insurance had made losses of €905m in 2009, and €160m in 2010, and the Irish Government passed the Insurance (Amendment ) Bill 2011 which imposed a 2% levy on all other Insurance policies to meet an estimated €280m shortfall to the state's Insurance Compensation Fund. Because part of the losses were caused by Quinn Insurance loans to fund speculative investments for other Quinn family companies, Clare Daly commented that - "A large percentage of insurance losses result from speculative gambling on the property market by the family and, in effect, the legislation provides for the transfer of those gambling debts on to the shoulders of hard pressed taxpayers and working people who need to insure cars, homes and so on."[19] The cost to Irish policyholders will come to €65m annually over five years.[20]
With Anglo Irish Bank in liquidation Quinn was pursued in 2010 for his loans from it, then about €2.8 billion secured on property worth much less.[21] In April 2011 the loans were formally called, and an on-going series of court cases are underway in several jurisdictions.[22] In particular, his overseas holding company, Quinn Investments Sweden, was wound up in July 2011.[23]
In July 2011 Anglo Irish Bank was renamed as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC).
It was found in late 2011 that some of the Swedish company's assets had been transferred to family-controlled companies in Cyprus, leading to a fresh round of litigation there. It was alleged by the liquidator that property owned in Russia worth $193m had been sold to a cousin, Peter Quinn, for $1,000 and a laptop computer.[24] The Quinn family described the allegations as "baseless and hardly deserving of comment”. Other property in Kiev, Ukraine, that was 93% controlled from Sweden was the subject of further proceedings in December 2011.[25]
Separately Mr Quinn's wife and children have started legal proceedings in Dublin in 2011 alleging that the €2.34 billion that he borrowed from Anglo-Irish Bank to buy the bank should not be repayable because the money was lent for the unlawful purpose of supporting the bank's share price. He has been joined as a third party in the case.[26]
The Quinn Group liquidator's staff have said that since its liquidation in April 2011 an unusual amount of damage has been caused to the Quinn Group's property, and an executive's car was burnt out at his home.[27]
On 11 November 2011 Mr Quinn said that he had applied for voluntary bankruptcy in Belfast, and issued a statement asking the media to consider his views as well as the bank's.[28][29] The case was filed under his legal name of John Ignatius Quinn, using an address in Northern Ireland, and he admitted debts of €194m.[30][31] Within days the IBRC said it would challenge the Belfast application in the commercial court in Dublin, alleging that Mr Quinn had only used a Republic of Ireland address in directors' filings for 95 companies and none in Northern Ireland (at the time, personal bankruptcies lasted for 12 years in the Republic, but only for 1 year in Northern Ireland). [32]
However a check of the electoral register for Co. Cavan clearly showed Sean Quinn registered as a resident of the Irish Republic having a vote in all elections, obviously contradicting the evidence given to the Belfast Court that he was only resident in Co. Fermanagh. [33]
The Quinn Group had expanded into the hospitality industry overseas, with hotels in the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Poland. The Quinn Group took control of the Prague Hilton, the largest five-star hotel in Prague, in 2004. It paid €145 million for the 788-room Hilton and the Ibis Karlin. The group also acquired the Hilton Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria. [34] In 2005 the group bought The De Vere Belfry hotel and golf course in England. In 2004 Quinn Direct insurance expanded into the UK motor and commercial insurance market. Quinn Direct Insurance sponsored the British Masters tournament there in May 2006.
On 7 March 2007, Seán Quinn spoke publicly for the first time in 10 years at a conference at the Slieve Russell hotel organised by the Cavan County Enterprise Board, at which he outlined the strategic aims of the Quinn Group in the immediate future. As of April 2011 Sean Quinn and the Quinn family no longer have any role in the management, operations or ownership of the Quinn Group.[8]
Quinn was born in Derrylin, County Fermanagh. He comes from a Gaelic Athletic Association family in Fermanagh on the border with Cavan where he and his brother Peter played football for Teemore. Peter Quinn became a financial advisor and in 1990 he was elected President of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Ireland's largest sporting and cultural organisation, in which role he served between 1991–1994. The brothers have a very close relationship with Peter playing a key role in the Quinn Group. Seán Quinn himself captained the Fermanagh team.[35] The Quinn Group is also an important sponsor of Fermanagh GAA. Quinn's involvement in the Gaelic Athletic Association is, in the words of one commentator, "a constant theme throughout the group". In the words of one associate, "The GAA forms a big part of Seán's life. Aside from that, he drinks the occasional jar in pubs in Ballyconnell and enjoys the odd game of poker."[35]
His private life is closely guarded and he rarely grants interviews. His five children all work in the family business. His son, Seán, lined out for the Fermanagh minor team.[35] He lives with his wife and family in Ballyconnell, Tullyhaw, County Cavan, next to his landmark Slieve Russell Hotel and just down the road from his birthplace in Derrylin.
On 18 May 1999 Seán Quinn was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from NUI Maynooth.[36] He also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Queens University Belfast (QUB).