The Bundaberg-based company that sits atop failed global finance group Greensill has debts totalling almost $4.9bn and should be liquidated, its administrator has told creditors.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions with Peter Greensill, the brother of Greensill founder Lex Greensill, also require further investigation, administrators Matthew Byrnes, Philip Campbell-Wilson and Michael McCann of accounting firm Grant Thornton said in a report to Greensill Capital creditors.
Greensill was a major source of funding for the business empire of British entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta, and its collapse has thrown the future of his businesses, including the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia, into doubt.
The administrators said former staff of the Bundaberg company, Greensill Capital, are likely to receive all their entitlements.
However, the outcome for other creditors, including major Greensill funders Softbank and Credit Suisse, will depend on how much, if any, can be recovered from the group’s trading businesses in the UK, which are also in administration.
Release of the report comes amid a growing political storm in the UK over government lobbying conducted by Greensill and its adviser, former British prime minister David Cameron.
Greensill collapsed early last month after it failed in a last-ditch legal effort to force insurers to renew coverage of $4.6bn in policies covering loans the group made to its customers.
In their report, the administrators said Softbank, a Japanese venture capital group that is heavily backed by Saudi Arabia, was owed almost $1.5bn and Credit Suisse was owed about $117m.
A group of banks in Germany, where Greensill owned a bank, has put in a claim for €2bn ($3.15bn), which represents an estimate of how much it owes under the country’s deposit protection scheme. However, the administrators said this amount may be reduced as Greensill’s German bank is wound up and its assets sold off.
They said Greensill Capital was owed US$777m ($100m) by its main UK subsidiary, Greensill Capital (UK).
A loan to Peter Greensill swelled by US$244m in just three months between October and December 2019, the administrators said.
“Several transactions totalling c.US$174m then appear to be transferred out with the narration of ‘Payment of proceeds PG Family Trust’ or similar,” they said.
“Management have indicated that these transactions in part relate to the sale of shares by Peter Greensill, however, at this stage we are not in possession of sufficient documentation to confirm.”
They said they had asked directors and management of the company more questions about the movements in the account but “have not formed a concluded view on the circumstances of movements in this account, and advise that additional investigations will be undertaken should the company be placed into liquidation”.
Liquidation was “the only suitable option available to creditors” and would enable a more thorough investigation of the company’s affairs and the conduct of its directors and management, they said.
