'Business as usual' at Quinn, say administrators
Friday July 30 2010
THE latest report from the joint administrators of Quinn Insurance has declared "business as usual" while they continue to retain merchant bankers to advise them on any prospective sale of the group, a court heard.
The administrators also anticipate the number of redundancies required from the workforce of 2010 will be 800 and not 900 as they originally forecast.
Some 75 jobs had been retained at the insurer's Enniskillen office when it had been initially anticipated that a number of redundancies would be required there -- and redundancies to date were made on an agreed basis, the court heard.
The third report of the administrators was presented yesterday to the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, who was told elements of it were confidential due to commercial reasons.
Among the confidential elements was a section of the report dealing with the solvency of the insurer.
Bernard Dunleavy, for administrators Michael McAteer and Paul McCann of Grant Thornton, said the Financial Regulator had sought changes at board level across the insurer and those changes had been effected in some 19 of 20 subsidiaries.
The regulator had also asked the administrators to address certain confidential issues and a one-page synopsis of their response was being handed into the court, counsel said.
Mr Dunleavy said the administrators were keen to underline it was business as usual and their task and goal was to return the insurer to a sound commercial footing. The administrators had also cut the number of redundancies required.
- Tim Healy
Irish Independent
