Quinn Insurance sale 'stalls'

The sale of Irish insurer Quinn Insurance will not go ahead until the country's new government is elected.

The insurer's administrators told staff in an email that the timetable had been derailed because of "the political environment the country is currently experiencing".

It comes just over one month after the administrators said they expected to make an announcement on the company's future in "two to four weeks".

Joint-administrator Michael McAteer stressed that the prediction was made before the general election was called, the Irish Independent reports.

"We have completed our work but there are a number of other matters that need to be finalised by other parties before a decision on the sale can be announced," he said.

"Unfortunately, it would appear that we will not get answers to these matters until after the election."

A spokesman for the administrators did not comment on the outstanding issues, saying the disclosure of any additional information could "impede" the sales process.

A joint-bid between Anglo Irish Bank and US insurer Liberty Mutual, one of the two bids under consideration, is thought to be leading the chase. Zurich is also interested.

However Anglo's bid must be approved by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) and the Finance Minister.

Meanwhile, the Cavan Chamber of Commerce and a local business lobby group have called for the sale to be suspended so a third proposal from the family of QIL founder Sean Quinn could be considered.

"I want to stress that the sale has not been suspended and that this delay is due to the political climate that the country is currently experiencing and not due to lack of interest from the bidders," McAteer added.

McAteer acknowledged that the hold-up was "disappointing".