Sean Quinn, three years ago listed as Ireland’s richest man, has been declared bankrupt in a Northern Ireland court over alleged debts of €2.8bn to the Irish state-owned lender Anglo Irish bank.
The 64-year old businessman’s insurance, cement and property empire collapsed last year following a multibillion euro stock market gamble on the share price of Anglo, which was nationalised during Ireland’s banking crisis.
Mr Quinn said in a statement on Friday he couldn’t pay the loans due to Anglo but added that the vast majority of the debts to the bank were “strenuously disputed”.
“I cannot now pay those loans which are due, following Anglo taking control of the Quinn Group of companies, which I and a loyal team spent a lifetime building, and I find myself left with no other alternative,” he said.
Mr Quinn accepts he owes Anglo almost €200m for property and other loans advanced during the property boom in Ireland. But he disputes the rest of the debt, which relates to his use of contracts for difference (CFDs) to buy Anglo shares.
CFDs, which are an anonymous form of investment, enabled Mr Quinn to bet on Anglo’s share price without buying the shares outright. He initially funded the bets with a loan from the Quinn Group in 2007, but when the bank’s share price began falling sharply, Mr Quinn was advanced loans by Anglo to cover the position.
Sean Quinn, three years ago listed as Ireland’s richest man, has been declared bankrupt in a Northern Ireland court over alleged debts of €2.8bn to the Irish state-owned lender Anglo Irish bank.
The 64-year old businessman’s insurance, cement and property empire collapsed last year following a multibillion euro stock market gamble on the share price of Anglo, which was nationalised during Ireland’s banking crisis.
Mr Quinn said in a statement on Friday he couldn’t pay the loans due to Anglo but added that the vast majority of the debts to the bank were “strenuously disputed”.
“I cannot now pay those loans which are due, following Anglo taking control of the Quinn Group of companies, which I and a loyal team spent a lifetime building, and I find myself left with no other alternative,” he said.
Mr Quinn accepts he owes Anglo almost €200m for property and other loans advanced during the property boom in Ireland. But he disputes the rest of the debt, which relates to his use of contracts for difference (CFDs) to buy Anglo shares.
CFDs, which are an anonymous form of investment, enabled Mr Quinn to bet on Anglo’s share price without buying the shares outright. He initially funded the bets with a loan from the Quinn Group in 2007, but when the bank’s share price began falling sharply, Mr Quinn was advanced loans by Anglo to cover the position.
rich people should be the most conservative investors.
But therein lie the irony...the sort of wealth that is created nowadays (on the back of massive asset inflation) requires enormous risk taking (even though I'd argue many of the people who had taken the risk didn't really realize the enormity of risk undertaken).
Quote from ASusilovic: ----Sean Quinn, three years ago listed as Ireland’s richest man....
----bankrupt....
----The 64-year old businessman’s insurance, cement and property empire.....
----multibillion euro stock market gamble....
----Quinn Group of companies, which he spent a lifetime building....
When "traditional" businesspeople get excited about the stock market, be careful.
