Vol. 416 No. 8
91 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will outline the total number of insurance/investment companies which have gone into liquidation or receivership, or have ceased to trade, and the losses, if any, to investors in the past ten years; the names of the companies involved; whether any have restarted trading or have been taken over by existing companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
While no insurance companies have gone into liquidation or receivership in the past ten years two, Primor plc., formerly PMPA Insurance Company plc., and Icarom plc., formerly the Insurance Corporation of Ireland plc. (ICI), became insolvent and were placed under administration.
The issued and fully paid share capital including share premium of PMPA when an administrator was appointed in October 1983 was £8.5 million. This equity was completely eroded by the losses of the company and shareholders have no prospect of recovering any of their investment.
In the case of Icarom I understand that AIB, the parent company of ICI prior to the appointment of an administrator in March 1985, wrote off a total investment of £86 million. In addition, AIB continues to provide interest subsidies of £5.5 million per annum in connection with the £100 million funding provided by the banking sector for the Icarom administration.
