Grant Thornton, administrator to the Australian parent and its operating companies in the UK, said the parent held claims of under $800 million against Greensill UK
Thirty-four creditors of Greensill Capital Pty, the Australian parent of the collapsed British supply chain financier, submitted more than $1.35 billion in claims to the company, administrators said on Friday.
Nearly $1.15 billion of that was made by Japan’s Softbank Group, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters. The source declined to be identified as the person was not permitted to speak publicly.
Grant Thornton, administrator to the Australian parent and its operating companies in the UK, also said the parent held claims of under $800 million against Greensill UK.
Greensill’s Australian parent provided administration and head office support to the London-based group that collapsed earlier this month after losing insurance coverage for its debt repackaging business, but operates “only in a limited capacity”, they said.
They had also been put on notice by the Association of German Banks about a contingent liability of close to 2 billion euros ($2.38 billion) to the Australian parent, Grant Thornton said in an emailed statement.
This claim does not appear in the company’s accounts and has not been formally verified by the administrators, the statement said.
A German court on Tuesday opened insolvency proceedings for Greensill Bank, owned by Greensill Capital, which was largely funded by depositors, whose deposits are protected by the bank’s membership in the deposit protection fund of the Federal Association of German Banks.
German financial regulator BaFin had locked down the obscure Bremen-based lender over concerns its debt would become unmanageable and also questioned some of its accounts.
Back in Australia, Grant Thornton said the claims submitted so far had not yet been verified and excluded claims of employees of the Australian company, 35 of whom had been made redundant.
A creditors committee was appointed on Friday, including representatives of SoftBank, Credit Suisse, another unnamed creditor, and a representative of employees. SoftBank is a “significant” creditor of the parent, and Credit Suisse holds security over some of its assets, according to a March 11 regulatory document.
Switzerland’s second-biggest bank and its asset management arm are stumbling from the internal collapse of nearly $10 billion of funds related to Greensill. It is also trying to recoup a $90 million outstanding bridge loan it made to the company last year.
