The High Court has approved the sale of Quinn Insurance Ltd to a joint venture of US insurer Liberty Mutual and Anglo Irish Bank.
The decision means a total €738m of public money will be paid out of the State's Insurance Compensation Fund to the insurer, including an immediate payment of €320 million to facilitate the sale with the remainder later, subject to applications to the court.
A representative of the insurer's employees had told the court the vast majority supported the sale because they believe it will safeguard their livelihoods.
The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, this afternoon approved the sale proposals, advanced by the insurer's joint administrators.
After a three day hearing, the judge said he had decided to give his decision immediately given the fact the proposed transaction is subject to time limits, the commercial sensitivities involved and the needs of the affected parties for certainty.
He said he had decided to approve the transfer by Quinn Insurance to Liberty of those parts of the insurance business as identified in the sale scheme. He would give his full reasons for his decision in a written judgment next week, the judge added.
The joint administrators of Quinn had told the court the alternative to the proposed sale was liquidation of the insurer with a deficit of some €1,300m and 1,600 job losses.
Denis McDonald SC, for the administrators, also said the sale scheme provided for the entire workforce of Quinn Insurance to be transferred to Liberty and the management of policies would continue with the same staff.
However, two groups representing a number of Quinn policy holders and others expressed a number of concerns about the proposed deal and claimed it involved an unfair distribution of public resources.
Both groups - Concerned Irish Citizens and Concerned Irish Business - also argued the High Court had not been given enough information about the deal to make an informed decision. They also indicated they had been supportive of alternative proposals for the insurer advanced by Quinn interests.
A solicitor representing the Quinn Group Ltd told the court yesterday the group wished to make clear it was fully supportive of the sale proposals of the administrators and was not involved in the alternative proposals.
Solicitor David Baxter said he believed the alternative proposals had been advanced by members of the Quinn family and some shareholders.
Earlier, Pauline Walley SC, for CIC, said her clients, including retired teacher Thomas Moran, were very sincere people who had genuine concerns for their communities.
Among those concerns was that the sale scheme would see a lot of QIL's cash assets, about €761m, being transferred to the purchaser.
There were also no formal certificates of solvency and authorisation for Liberty, as required under the relevant law, before the court, she submitted.
Mr McDonald, for the administrators, said no alternative to the sale had been advanced by the objectors and it was "fanciful" to suggest another buyer could be found, he added.
The Minister for Finance was most affected by the proposed sale and was not objecting. The alternative proposals put forward by Quinn interests involved €500m taxpayer's money, he also said.
