Ireland

Superquinn’s proposed sale to Musgrave Group is set to proceed after a petition seeking to have the company put in examinership was withdrawn, the Irish Times reported. This morning, the High Court was informed the application by Superquinn for examinership was being withdrawn as a result of Musgrave, which intends to acquire the chain, announcing a €10 million fund is to be established to reimburse certain creditors of the company. The scheme is dependant on the sale of Superquinn to fellow retailers Musgrave going ahead.

A €10 million fund is to be established to reimburse certain creditors of Superquinn, the supermarket chain which went into receivership last week, the Irish Times reported. The joint receivers of the company are expected to announce details of the scheme today. Only suppliers who are not covered by credit insurance will be covered by it. The scheme will be funded by Musgrave and indirectly through the banks, using money generated during the course of the receivership, and is contingent upon Musgrave’s purchase of Superquinn.

Bank of Ireland has been saved from possible government control by a group of overseas institutional investors that has agreed to buy up to €1.12bn ($1.6bn) of the troubled lender’s shares, the Financial Times reported. Wilbur Ross, the US billionaire, a large Canadian firm and a number of US fund managers are thought to be among the investors that have committed to buy a stake of up to 37.3 per cent in the bank. The agreement came a day before the planned completion of a €1.9bn rights issue that could have pushed the government’s 36 per cent stake up to almost 70 per cent.

Financial regulator Matthew Elderfield has repeated his call for further measures to be put in place to ensure bank balance sheets reflect underlying risks more accurately, the Irish Times reported. Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, this afternoon, Mr Elderfield said his office would require banks to ensure any potential impairment from future disposals "is recognised as fully and as early as possible". The regulator also backed continuing support for struggling mortgage holders and reform of bankruptcy laws.

A number of food and drink companies owed money by Superquinn have said they could be facing cash flow difficulties within days, RTÉ News reported. Receivers have been appointed to the retailer, though a number of directors are reported to be planning an injunction to stop the receivership. Hundreds of suppliers are owed money by Superquinn- with some of the amounts running into millions of euro. Musgrave - which wants to buy Superquinn from the receivers - is finalising plans for a scheme to help suppliers experiencing losses as a result of the receivership.

Receivers are to take control of housebuilder McInerney on behalf of three banks owed €113 million after the Supreme Court yesterday ruled against a rescue plan for the business backed by US private equity fund Oaktree Capital, the Irish Times reported. The ruling ends the process that began last August when the High Court appointed Bill O’Riordan of PricewaterhouseCoopers as examiner to five of the group’s Irish firms, and lifts the protection from creditors given to the business at that point.

The chief executive of Superquinn, Andrew Street, has resigned just two days after the company went into receivership and was sold to the Musgraves chain, RTÉ News reported. Receivers Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG were appointed by Bank of Ireland, AIB and National Irish Band - and the company had around €400m in debt. In an email circulated by Mr Street this morning, he said the banks had selected this process to secure the maximum amount of the sale proceeds for themselves.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said he will apply to the courts to recapitalise Irish Life & Permanent, despite shareholders voting down proposals to approve the recapitalisation at an extraordinary general meeting, the Irish Times reported. Mr Noonan said he had expected shareholders to vote against the proposals but that he had been instructed to recapitalise the company by the end of this month under the terms of the bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The Director of Ireland's Small Firms Association (SFA), Patricia Callan, has condemned the Superquinn receivership as being "sharp practice," Finfacts reported. Following the appointment of joint receivers on Monday, the receivers agreed an overnight deal to sell Superquinn to the Cork-headquartered Musgrave Group. Callan commented: “We have been inundated with calls from small food and drink suppliers throughout the country, who are concerned for their future business viability, and the jobs of the staff they employ, as a result of the appointment of receivers to Superquinn.

A receiver has been appointed to one of Ireland's largest domestic retailers putting thousands of jobs into question and paving the way for a possible sale, the country's state broadcaster reported on Monday. Supermarket operator Superquinn, which employs around 2,800 people in 23 stores around the country, was put into receivership by a consortium of banks after building up debts of over 400 million euros ($561 million), Reuters reported on an RTÉ story.