SoftBank Seeks $1.2 Billion in Greensill Collapse

(Bloomberg) -- Greensill Capital owes more than $1.3 billion to creditors, with the bulk of those claims so far coming from the now-defunct fintech’s largest shareholder, SoftBank Group Corp.SoftBank, which had already invested $1.5 billion in return for a stake in the company that is now practically worthless, is owed $1.15 billion, people familiar with the matter said. It’s not clear whether it lent that money to Greensill in addition to the equity investment, or whether the latter was structured in a way that allows it to try and recoup money in creditor talks.In total, counterparties to Greensill submitted claims for more than A$1.75 billion ($1.35 billion), administrator Grant Thornton said in a statement Friday after a call between creditors concluded. The final tally may be significantly higher as further claims are made, and because some of the amounts submitted were placeholders while the actual damage is being determined.The figures show Greensill owes money to some 34 creditors, including its own German banking unit and a family trust in the name of founder Lex Greensill’s brother, from which it had borrowed late last year as it struggled to raise new money ahead of a possible going public. SoftBank had injected equity in the firm in 2019 and put hundreds of millions of dollars into funds Greensill ran with Credit Suisse Group AG. It’s collapse leaves Masayoshi Son’s Vision Fund with yet another damaging loss.

SoftBank didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Greensill filed for insolvency in the U.K. last week, after Credit Suisse froze the $10 billion group of funds that Greensill effectively ran. The Swiss bank, itself a creditor, made the decision after a unit of insurer Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. refused to provide new coverage for some of the short-term financings Greensill packaged into securities and then sold on to the funds. Tokio Marine and its Australian subsidiary are now also among the creditors.

Even before the dramatic events of the past weeks, SoftBank had written down its stake significantly, Bloomberg has reported. Just a year earlier, a capital injection by the Japanese investor had valued Greensill Capital at $3.5 billion. In October of last year, Greensill predicted he would soon sell a small stake of the company for hundreds of millions of dollars, implying a valuation of roughly $7 billion.

Now, the repercussions are hitting banks and investors across the world. Credit Suisse this week said it would suspend bonus payments for some top managers and weigh clawbacks as it tries to contain the fallout from its involvement with Greensill. The Swiss lender said it’s expecting defaults on some of the notes in the funds and that so far it has only recovered about $50 million of a $140 million loan to the firm. It also submitted a creditor’s claim.

The first creditors meeting for Greensill’s collapsed supply-chain finance business in Australia on Friday lasted 55 minutes, with 59 creditors in attendance with their representatives. The Association of German Banks as well as German and Australian securities regulators were also on the call, led by Matt Byrnes, a partner at Grant Thornton.

The creditors that have submitted claims exclude employees. Their number may increase as further claims are made during the administration, the Grant Thornton statement said. Another meeting is set for April 22 when creditors will have the opportunity to vote on Greensill’s future.

Tokio Marine and its subsidiary Bond & Credit Co. put in nominal claims for $1 each until they work out how much they are owed, the people said, asking not to be identified as the meeting was private. Tokio Marine is facing a larger-than-expected exposure to the Greensill Capital meltdown after finding that reinsurance contracts intended to limit losses didn’t cover its unit that did the most business with Greensill, Bloomberg reported.

BCC’s previous owner, Insurance Australia Group Ltd., submitted a claim for about A$20,000 to cover its legal fees for a court dispute with Greensill that was heard in Sydney on March 1, according to a different person with knowledge of the matter.

The Peter Greensill Trust, a creditor which represents CEO Lex Greensill and his brothers Peter and Andrew, is seeking $60 million. Startup Earnd, which Greensill bought a controlling stake in last year, was another creditor. The administrator is considering options for that firm that may include a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

The administrators were also aware of a contingent claim from the Association of German Banks that could be in the order of about 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion), Grant Thornton said in a statement. This has not been formally verified by the administrators, according to the statement. There is a concurrent administration process running in Germany for Greensill Bank AG, a subsidiary of Greensill Capital.

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