SYDNEY (Reuters) – Swiss bank Credit Suisse has hired receivers to secure a bridge loan of around $ 140 million given to Australian Greensill, two people familiar with the case told Reuters .
Recipients of McGrathNicol were hired to try to get the loan back from Greensill Capital Pty Ltd after it filed for bankruptcy protection in London and Australia on Monday, the people said. The sources did not want to be cited as they did not have the authority to comment publicly.
Representatives for Credit Suisse and McGrathNicol declined to comment. Greensill representatives did not return calls seeking comment.
Greensill began to emerge last week when a major insurer stopped providing credit insurance on $ 4.1 billion of debt in packages it created for clients, including Credit Suisse.
Credit Suisse was also advising Greensill on a possible IPO last year and on lending it the $ 140 million in anticipation of the loan being repaid when it announced the company, one of the people said.
Greensill said in court documents earlier this week that it was addressing “deficiencies” from its main customer, the GFG Alliance, which is controlled by Sanjeev Gupta, an Indian-British steelmaker.
Greensill, which has a large UK operation but is still registered in the founding town of Lex Greensill in Bundaberg in Queensland Australia, also said it would not be able to repay the loan to Credit Suisse.
Grant Thornton, Greensill’s designated administrator, has agreed in principle to sell Greensill’s intellectual property and technology for processing futures payments to U.S. private equity group Apollo Global Management Inc. for $ 60 million, the court filing said.
Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, however, that the talks had stalled, citing anonymous sources.
Reporting with Paulina Duran in Sydney; Edited by Sam Holmes