WHEN a Turkish company bought a 94.7 per cent stake in Mannok last week, the building materials and packaging group made up of assets once owned by Fermanagh man Sean Quinn, it came as no shock to the former tycoon.
The company was bought by Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holdings for €330m (£278m). Local management will still lead Mannok, and retain a 5.3 per cent interest in the business.
It was formerly a part of the Quinn Group of companies and was acquired in December 2014 by a US investor group when Mr Quinn’s business empire was swallowed up by insolvency.
Speaking to the Herald, Mr Quinn was realistic about the sale.
“They have given away the business, so there’s not too much more to be said about it. It can’t be undone now. You have to move on,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear what I think of them but I’m not going to get into an arguing match about it.
“These guys have sold off all the businesses that I put together. Rather than buying them back, they have sold all the businesses to foreign companies. It comes as no surprise.”
There was an added irony that the day the sale of the company was announced, Mr Quinn, pictured left, emailed media outlets a ‘briefing document’ summarising the main points of his book, ‘Seán Quinn – In My Own Words’, one year after its release.
“I sent out a wee circular to journalists and media outlets last week as a follow-up to my book as it’s an easier way to analyse the details,” Mr Quinn said.
“I put it together to condense and clarify what I’d said in the book.
“Then the same day I sent it out, the announcement was made about the company being sold.
“It was ironic. It’s strange how things turn out.”
Mannok currently employs around 800 people in the manufacturing of cement and other quarry products, concrete, insulation materials and packaging.
The Fermanagh-based group had sales of over €300m last year and is one of the most profitable parts of Mr Quinn’s former empire.
“At this stage of our development, securing a long-term, strategic, well-capitalised owner of scale, is the right move for Mannok and we look forward to working with our new colleagues at Sabanci,” Mannok chief executive Dara O’Reilly said.
He also thanked the investor group, led by Brigade Capital Management, for their “unstinting and collegiate support as majority owners of the business over the past decade”.
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