Staff working for the State-controlled Quinn International Property Management (QIPM) have been transferred to Avid Asset Management, a Cavan-based consultancy firm.
The employees moved from the firm, which is controlled by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), to Avid in 2015, according to a UK Companies House filing made this month by QIPM.
As the staff moved over, QIPM entered an agreement with Avid, whereby Avid would provide management services in return for a monthly management fee.
Paul Morgan, chief executive of Avid, who was once a financial controller at Quinn Hotels, declined to comment.
Avid has managed hotels, office blocks and other property worth €1 billion in value and has concluded deals worth €600 million, according to its website. It manages the Slieve Russell hotel in Cavan on behalf of the IBRC and also provides consultancy services for the management of the IBRC-owned Holiday Inn in Nottingham.
An IBRC source said the Quinn family has no interest in Avid. “They are a service provider who are very familiar with the assets,” said the source.
Seán Quinn, previously Ireland’s richest man, once owned a foreign property empire stretching across Russia, the Ukraine, Turkey and India worth an estimated €500 million.
Mr Quinn, who was sent to jail for nine weeks in 2012 for contempt of court, said his family lost €3.2 billion between 2007 and 2008 as the value of its investment in Anglo Irish Bank crashed amid the financial crisis.
Liquidator Kieran Wallace told the Commercial Court in 2015 that the IBRC, which took over Anglo, had to overcome "dishonest and fraudulent activity" to secure control over the Quinn assets located overseas. The Quinn family has denied these allegations and challenged efforts by the State to sell the assets.
There has previously been speculation that the Quinns may yet return to take control of the foreign property portfolio as part of mediation with the Government.
In August, Mr Quinn launched a new online sportsbook, Quinnbet, “aiming to ruffle up” the Irish and the UK betting market. The new gaming business, based in Cavan, represents his first venture since the collapse of his conglomerate, whose interests ranged from insurance to cement.
Officially unveiling Quinnbet, the Quinns stated that “the family was back in business”.
