Buy out bid launched for former Quinn Group

Damian McCarney

A trio of Irish businessmen have launched a new company in a bid to take ownership of Aventas, and they believe they have Sean Quinn’s moral backing.

The new company is called 'Quinn Business Retention Company Limited’, and they claim to have the support of the former Quinn Group executive in their aim to buy over the manufacturing operations of the company.
They expect the buy-out to cost in “the hundreds of millions”, and they aim to consolidate the 40-plus separate bondholders, mostly based in USA, into a smaller group. While they were unwilling to discuss their funding when asked by The Anglo-Celt, they said that they “have a number of financing options to us, and obviously we have to get the best deal possible”.
Heading the new company are three 'sponsors’, businessmen Ernie Fisher from Fermanagh, Cllr John McCartin from Leitrim and John Bosco O’Hagan from Derry.
“We have the entire old management structure willing and enthusiastic about the prospect of working with us, and we have a number of funding options available to us,” said Cllr McCartin. “It’s going to take two things to run this business, money to buy it and the management team to run it, and we have both.
“We have to be the best bet, it has to be worth more to the old management team, the people who built and grew it, than it is to anyone else in the world. Therefore they have to be the biggest asset that can be brought to that business.”
Cllr McCartin told the Anglo-celt that if they get “meaningful” engagement from Aventas, they are willing to make an offer “immediately”.
“We have engaged with the Aventas board and the CEO, and currently we are in a level of communication with them. We are seeking information from them to put a finer point on our bid, and as of yet we haven’t got it, but we are hopeful they will engage with us in a meaningful way.
“We can’t expect to put a fully funded final bid together without knowing the exact financial state of the group and its commitments.”
Is Sean Quinn in any way involved?
“No, obviously we would have to employ the support of Sean Quinn, however Sean wasn’t actually a CEO there, he wasn’t a director. He wasn’t even a shareholder in the latter days of the Quinn Group, and Sean would not be again, but we hope and we would feel Sean would be very happy to see the business consolidated here in local ownership because we would have grave concerns, as would he, that the future of the business does not lie in this area under the current regime,” said Cllr McCartin.
Do you have Sean Quinn’s moral support?
“We feel we have his moral support, yes.”
Is this the opening gambit of a hostile takeover?
“We certainly wouldn’t like it to be a hostile takeover, but we feel we are the best option to the current owners and we think we could be warmly received. Obviously there would be interests different to our own within the organisation, as there is when you engage any group of people, and we have to accept that, but for now we are hoping that Aventas will engage with us meaningfully. We are confident that the current investors will realise that we are the strongest prospect for a realisation of a return on their investment.”
Cllr McCartin did not rule out retaining any of the current Aventas management. Ernie Fisher, Cllr John McCartin and John Bosco O’Hagan are named as directors of the company, but insist they are acting in a “completely voluntary basis”. If the buy over was successful, they envisage that they would sit on a board of directors but would leave daily running of the company with the former Quinn Group management, who, in their media briefing, they have listed as supporters of their plan.
The Anglo-Celt contacted Aventas for a comment but have yet to respond.