Sean Quinn fails in attempt to claim back company

The e-mail, obtained by The Impartial Reporter, uncovers for the first time the power battle that exists at the heart of Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited and how the three American investors that now own the company “have no appetite” for Mr. Quinn being anything other than a consultant.

Furthermore, this newspaper can today reveal the friction between the one-time billionaire, now the highest paid member of the Derrylin based company, and the local senior management team.

A local consortium bought the former Quinn Group from the Aventas Group in 2014 with the help of three American based hedge funds; Brigade Capital, Contrarian Capital and Silver Point Capital.

The deal was seen as a positive one with the company even recruiting Mr. Quinn as a consultant and paying him, it is believed, £500,000 per year. His son, Sean Junior, also has an advisory role.

But over a year later and cracks are showing as one joint e-mail from the U.S based investors (referred to as ‘the Investor Group’) to the management team, including Liam McCaffrey and Kevin Lunney, proves.

In the message, sent on March 14, 2016, the Investor Group refers to a recent meeting with Mr. Quinn’s financial advisor who was acting as an intermediary between all parties “to find common ground.”

The advisor explained Mr. Quinn’s position with the Investor Group, stating that “Sean has grown increasingly uncomfortable with his role as a senior advisor to Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited and has a strong desire to acquire ownership in Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited.”

The Investor Group explained that it had engaged Mr. Quinn as a senior advisor “to provide advice on material science, rekindle certain customer relationships and source raw material for the business.”

“We believe this advisory contract, which makes him the highest paid member of the Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited team, is a strong sign of our support,” said the e-mail, adding: “The Investor Group has enjoyed getting to know Sean over the last year, and believe his role as a senior advisor to Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited can be additive to our investment if approached in a productive fashion.”

The Investor Group said it believes “that we have the right leaders in place to drive a successful outcome for all shareholders, including yourselves.”

In the e-mail, the Investor Group said that in order for Mr. Quinn “to become bankable in the finance community again” he needs to “rectify his relationship with our senior management team” and “take an active approach, demonstrable over a period of time, against the increasingly negative activity in the community.”

“The recent developments have done nothing but move Sean further away from his goal, and, while obviously not positive for the business, are downright detrimental to Sean.

Assuming Sean addresses our initial concerns on an ongoing basis and our business enjoys a reasonable period of stability and continued success, we are open to further discussions on Sean’s role, but at this point in time, the Investor Group has no appetite for Sean’s role expanding beyond the advisory relationship already in place,” said the e-mail.

Meanwhile, the Investor Group also said that it is “growing increasingly uncomfortable with the escalating acts of violence and intimidation in the Derrylin/Ballyconnell community, which whether directed at our business, or neighbour businesses, adversely impact our willingness to continue to invest and grow Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited.”

“When we initially agreed to support QBRC in their bid to buy the Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited businesses, QBRC explained to us that their goals were to retain local employment and ensure local management of the Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited businesses. The Investor Group has delivered on both promises. The businesses are under local management, and we have grown employment by 12 per cent (~100 jobs) and increased wages substantially in our first 12 months of ownership.

“While we enjoyed a period of relative calm in the community after closing the acquisition in December 2014, we have now been bombarded with continuous disruptions around our cement plant, threats to area businesses, false personal attacks and vandalism of our equipment. None of this activity is acceptable or productive, and the Investor Group will in no way be intimidated by these actions,” said the e-mail.

The Impartial Reporter contacted Brigade Capital, Silverpoint Capital and Contrarian Capital in America but none of the companies wished to comment on the ongoing issues.

Businessman Joey Smith, Mr. Quinn’s friend and a member of Concerned Irish Citizens, a pro-Quinn lobby group, has claimed the former tycoon has become “a prisoner” in the company he once owned.

“I know that from Sean himself. That’s a fact, that’s not hearsay,” he told this newspaper.

“We are losing sight of what management aimed to do. Their sole function was to go in and buy the businesses back for Sean Quinn. He built them, they were his. For whatever reason there has been a change in direction and instead of working with Sean Quinn they are working against him. Sean Quinn wants to be back in charge, he told me that. He put it there,” said Mr. Smith.

In relation to the intimidation, acts of sabotage and death threats to management, Mr. Smith said: “I condemn what has been done. But I’ll tell you something, I wouldn’t need the FBI to tell you why it is being done. Local people are getting very angry.

“I think Sean Quinn and the Quinn family are showing great restraint. I think if I was being put under the same pressure that they are being put under I mightn’t be as easy to talk to. With regards to death threats, I don’t believe in death threats. Having said that, I can see why they would be made,” he said.

Mr. Smith added: “I think common sense has to prevail. These guys have to realise that there is only one man who can take over this business and that’s Sean Quinn. There is no other solution to this.”

Patricia Gilheany, Secretary of Concerned Irish Citizens, is calling for Mr. Quinn to take control of the business he spectacularly lost. When asked how someone who was made bankrupt can take charge of a company he doesn’t own, Ms. Gilheany said: “Yes, he was made bankrupt but an awful lot of people who were good business people and they are coming back. When you come out of your bankruptcy after three years you start again.

Everybody appreciates that he is the only man who can sustain this business. The business can not survive into the future without Sean Quinn in charge.”

Ms. Gilheany claims that Mr. Quinn is “being denied access to the accounts.”

“He is in effect a consultant who is not being consulted about anything. He is there in name only. You can’t be a consultant without knowing the figures,” she said.

In response to recent attacks, Ms. Gilheany said: “We are all about peace. We have appealed to people at meetings not to do anything hasty, but we realise that there has to be talk. If people are being excluded that doesn’t work and at the moment the Quinn family are being excluded. None of this is going to be resolved until there is break in the current impasse. The wind farm issue can not be resolved without Sean Quinn.”

In relation to the death threats, she said: “Have you seen those death threats? I condemn anybody getting death threats. I also would say that these people are making awful lot of it.”

Ms. Gilheany said she does not know who is behind the attacks. “Absolutely not, we don’t know. All we know is there is a deep undercurrent of dissatisfaction, frustration, anger, and we want transparency.”

Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited refused to comment on the leaked e-mail, obtained by this newspaper.

Instead, a spokesman said: “Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited management is on record as stating that recently reported issues will not distract us from our drive to ensure that the company continues the strong growth which we have demonstrated in the first year.

“The appointment of the Board and any individuals who control the company resides with the three U.S investors who bought the business. The management team have been appointed by the investors with an agreed mandate to a) retain local employment and b) ensure local management in the business. Sean has his own advisor whom we understand is in direct discussions with the investors in relation to his role within the business. Any decision relating to the outcome of those discussions is exclusively a matter for the U.S Investors,” said the spokesman.

Mr. Quinn was approached a number of times this week by this newspaper.

Meanwhile, a veil of silence hangs over the Derrylin/Ballyconnell area as the hostility continues. Close to the entrance of the Slieve Rushen wind farm, formerly owned by the Quinn Group, sits a security team with a mobile camera fearing further attacks. Meanwhile, signs reading “vultures out” can be seen across Derrylin.

The seriousness of the issue means local people are “scared to talk about it” as one worker at Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited, who didn’t want to be named, said. “How dangerous is this? Someone will be killed. That will be the outcome, someone will be killed. There are no two ways about it; people are worried about their safety. They’re all afraid of their lives,” he said.

Businesswoman Betty Leonard said she is “disgusted” by the incidents.

“When is it going to stop? Everyone is aghast. I don’t want to see this carry on going on for much longer, I don’t see the purpose of it. I thought the takeover was a good thing, keeping jobs in the area, all very positive. I am disgusted,” she said.

Ulster Unionist Assembly Candidate Alastair Patterson said he is “deeply angry that there are those who seem hell bent on putting these local jobs in jeopardy. Those responsible should not be supported in any by the local community and anyone with any information should take it to PSNI or the Gardai. I call on the hoods responsible to stop this criminality immediately,” he said.