Sean Quinn, the former owner of Quinn Glass, was granted a voluntary adjudication over debts reported to reach EUR 2.8 billion at a court in Belfast on 14 November.
Quinn founded and built Quinn Group, the property, insurance and manufacturing group which includes Quinn Glass, but lost control of it to Anglo Irish in April 2011.
Sean Quinn, the former owner of Quinn Glass, and once the richest man in Ireland, has been declared bankrupt. Quinn was granted a voluntary adjudication over debts reported to reach EUR 2.8 billion at a court in Belfast on 14 November.
He applied for voluntary bankruptcy after investing in Anglo Irish Bank, in which he purchased shares that then collapsed in value.
Quinn founded and built Quinn Group, the property, insurance and manufacturing group which includes Quinn Glass, but lost control of it to Anglo Irish in April 2011.
His decision to declare himself bankrupt in Northern Ireland means that he will be able to go back into businesses in a year, rather than having to wait 12 years if he had made the move in the Republic of Ireland.
In a statement, Quinn said: “I have done absolutely everything in my power to avoid taking this drastic decision. The vast majority of debt that Anglo maintains is owed is strenuously disputed. However, 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. I find myself left with no other alternative.”
Quinn added: “I am not in the business of pointing fingers or making excuses. However, recent history has shown that I, like thousands of others in Ireland, incorrectly relied upon the persons who guided Anglo and who wrongfully sought to portray a ‘blue chip’ Irish banking sector.”