Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurer currently in administration, looks destined to be sold following a statement from its parent company Quinn Group issued today.

Quinn Group said it had concluded that it ‘should consider selling Quinn Insurance’ in the interests of Quinn Insurance employees and other stakeholders.

Quinn Group chief executive Liam McCaffrey said: ‘Since the appointment of provisional administrators on 30 March and the confirmation of their appointment on 15 April 2010, the group board has been considering a number of options but has now reluctantly concluded that in view of the funding required to meet the solvency requirements laid down by the Financial Regulator, the future of Quinn Insurance is probably best protected under new ownership.

‘Accordingly we will be working closely with the joint administrators to see if this objective can be achieved in as short a time as possible with the hope that this will protect the maximum number of jobs.

‘Quinn Insurance has a robust and profitable business model with a skilled and loyal workforce. However prolonging the situation is not in anyone’s interest and that is why we have reached this decision.’

The Quinn Group statement said: ‘The Board of Quinn Group Limited is greatly saddened by the redundancies which are expected to be announced by the joint administrators of Quinn Insurance today.

‘It has been overwhelmed by the support of its loyal staff and customer base across the group in recent weeks and most especially by the support shown by the employees of Quinn Insurance. The thoughts of all the members of the Quinn Group Board are with those staff today.’

Quinn Insurance provides professional indemnity insurance to 2,911 UK law firms and sole practitioners.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: 'The Law Society is monitoring the situation closely in the interest of solicitors, and will continue to do so as the situation develops.'

An SRA spokeswoman said the regulator did not currently have anything to add to its existing advice, but it would continue to closely monitor the situation.