Family redeem charge on shares

THE QUINN family has redeemed a category of share over which Anglo Irish Bank had a charge that entitled the bank to take control…

THE QUINN family has redeemed a category of share over which Anglo Irish Bank had a charge that entitled the bank to take control of part of the Quinn Group in the case of default on loans.

The bank still has a charge over another class of share which, in the event the group could not pay its debts, would give the bank ownership of 17.7 per cent of the businesses concerned.

On July 9th, 2008, the bank took out a charge on 100 redeemable preference shares in Quinn Group (RoI) Ltd, which, in turn, owns Quinn Healthcare, Quinn Direct and a range of other substantial Quinn businesses.

The holder of the shares is allowed to appoint an equal number of directors to the board of the company as the holders of the company’s ordinary shares, plus one director.

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The group yesterday showed The Irish Timesa document filed with the Companies Registration Office stating the preference shares have now been redeemed.

The document, which is not publicly available, is stamped August 10th, 2008 and states the shares were redeemed on July 28th.

The documents that are publicly available show the charge being created on the shares, but not the shares being redeemed.

A spokesman for the Quinn Group was asked to comment on the matter on Friday but did not do so. Yesterday he confirmed that a charge created at the same time on a percentage of the ordinary shares of the company continues to exist. The group and the Quinn family are understood to be the largest debtor of the bank, which is to be nationalised.

Colm Keena

Colm Keena

Colm Keena is an Irish Times journalist. He was previously legal-affairs correspondent and public-affairs correspondent