ADVERTISEMENT

Credit Suisse Wants SoftBank Subpoena Before It Files U.K. Suit

Credit Suisse Wants SoftBank Subpoena Before It Files U.K. Suit

Credit Suisse Group AG’s plan to sue SoftBank Group Corp. in England over the collapse of Greensill Capital shouldn’t prevent it from first extracting internal records in the U.S., the Zurich-based bank said.

Credit Suisse is seeking information from SoftBank as it prepares to file a lawsuit in England to recover losses from last year’s implosion of financier Lex Greensill’s supply-chain finance empire.

Credit Suisse urged a U.S. judge in San Francisco Monday to reject SoftBank’s arguments that the information it seeks is only relevant to a later stage of litigation in the U.K.

Unlike in the U.S. where a lawsuit can be filed with no communication between litigants, parties in an anticipated suit in England “are expected to take a series of pre-litigation steps,” Credit Suisse said in the filing.

Credit Suisse is seeking information from board meetings at Katerra Inc., a U.S.-based construction company in which SoftBank was a major investor. The bank is trying to reclaim $2.7 billion in overdue loan payments from borrowers including Katerra. It has said it invested in about $440 million worth of notes backed by the construction company.

Detailing the steps it has taken to comply with English practices, Credit Suisse told the U.S. judge it sent SoftBank a Feb. 10 “letter before action” spelling out the grounds for its lawsuit, according to the filing.

Besides offering no “substantive response” to the letter, SoftBank has “not produced a single document” that was requested, Credit Suisse said.

SoftBank is trying to block Credit Suisse’s subpoena, arguing it’s a desperate attempt to deflect responsibility for the “embarrassing” loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in the Greensill collapse. 

SoftBank also claims Credit Suisse has misrepresented that its U.K. lawsuit was to be filed imminently.

Credit Suisse cut ties with SoftBank in May, deciding to no longer do any new business together, after the collapse of Greensill and amid conflict of interest allegations, people with knowledge of the decisions earlier told Bloomberg.

The Swiss bank has repaid $6.7 billion to investors in supply-chain funds affected by Greensill’s failure.

The case is In re Ex Parte Application of Credit Suisse Virtuoso, 21-mc-80308, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.