SYDNEY :
Thirty-four creditors of Greensill Capital Pty, the Australian parent of the collapsed British supply chain financier, submitted over A$1.75 billion ($1.35 billion) in claims to the company, administrators said on Friday.
About $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. Softbank representatives didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Grant Thornton, administrator to the Australian parent and its operating companies in the United Kingdom, 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 includes 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 reeling from the implosion of around $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.
Also present at the virtual Friday meeting were the Australian Taxation Office, Australia’s corporate regulator, the Attorney General’s department and the Association of German banks.
Grant Thornton said it would provide a report to creditors in about three weeks and a second meeting of creditors would be held on April 22, where they would vote on whether to liquidate the company or accept a restructuring proposal.
“The administrators confirmed to creditors that, at this stage, they had not received a Deed of Company Arrangement proposal for consideration,” the statement said.
Tokio Marine Faces Larger-Than-Expected Greensill Exposure
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. 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.
Tokio’s Australia Bond & Credit Co. — which at one point wrote more than A$10 billion ($7.7 billion) of insurance policies for Greensill — isn’t covered by contracts with a key group of re-insurers, according to people familiar with the matter.
A group of the companies, including Hannover Rueck SE and Scor SE, recently asked Tokio Marine to clarify the Greensill situation and were told by the Japanese company that their exposure is negligible, the people said, asking for anonymity to discuss a private exchange.
“We have reviewed this situation carefully, including our reinsurance position, and will continue to do so as needed,” Tokio Marine, which had previously declined to comment,'' the company said in an emailed statement.
“On that basis, our expected net exposure remains unchanged, and as a result we don’t see any need to adjust our financial guidance,” it said.
Spokespeople for the two reinsurers declined to comment.Greensill’s downfall and the resulting scandal was triggered when the Bond & Credit Co. decided not to renew policies covering billions of dollars of loans Greensill made.
The Japanese insurer had signaled that a significant portion of its remaining Greensill-related risk is covered by reinsurance, according to the Financial Times.
A spokesman for Tokio Marine declined to comment on whether Tokio Marine has other reinsurance policies covering the Greensill risk.The reinsurance contracts were purchased by Tokio Marine’s Houston-based HCC credit insurance unit. While it was intended that the deal would also cover Bond & Credit Co., the necessary approvals were never granted because of an internal lapse, one of the people said, without providing more details.