AIB and Liberty to buy Quinn?

Anglo Irish Bank has held talks with US insurer Liberty Mutual about a joint approach to buy Quinn Insurance in a bid to secure repayment of €2.8bn in loans from the Quinn family, the Irish Times reports.

Both Anglo and Liberty have expressed an interest in Quinn but had no comment on any joint discussions.

Anglo hopes that by teaming up with a major international insurer, it could allay the concerns of the Government and the Financial Regulator about the bank’s ability both to fund and manage a takeover of Quinn Insurance.

Shared deal

Anglo would temporarily share ownership with the Liberty Mutual, which would ultimately take outright ownership of Quinn.

In a separate development, it is understood that the regulator has been told by Quinn Group that it was not aware of any solvency issues relating to guarantees given by Quinn Insurance subsidiaries on debts of €1.2bn owing by the wider group to a syndicate of banks and bondholders.

Quinn Group is used by Sean Quinn’s family to hold their shareholding in the overall group but has no operational role.