LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) – Concise insights on global finance in the Covid-19 era.
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RUN FOR GREENSILLS. The woes faced by supply chain finance provider Greensill Capital are spreading to lower-risk forms of the funky debt. The group which arranges funding to help companies pay suppliers upfront on Tuesday sought insolvency protection in Australia, according to media reports, after Credit Suisse froze $10 billion of funds backed by its assets. Now Swiss asset manager GAM has followed, freezing $842 million of vehicles pooling debt originated by Greensill.
The move is both surprising, and inevitable. The GAM products don’t have the exposure to Sanjeev Gupta’s industrial group which had spooked Credit Suisse. Unlike the Swiss bank, GAM says it has no doubt over the assets’ valuations. Yet its decision to freeze the funds suggests investors in supply chain finance, themselves often risk-averse corporate treasurers, want to reduce their exposure to Greensill, or perhaps even the entire asset class. It may take a while for confidence to return. (By Neil Unmack)
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