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Credit Suisse Greensill Funds to Pay Back Another $400 Million

Credit Suisse Greensill Funds to Pay Back Another $400 Million

Credit Suisse Group AG said it plans to return about $400 million to investors in supply-chain finance funds that invested in Greensill Capital products, the fifth such disbursement since the bank was forced to freeze the money pools this year. 

The latest payment is expected to be made this week and would bring the total paid to investors in the funds to about $6.3 billion, according to a statement on the bank’s website on Monday. The funds’ total cash position is about $7 billion, or about 70% of assets under management when they were suspended, it said.

The collapse of Greensill marked an early reversal in Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein’s tenure, before the bank was hit by the even bigger meltdown of Archegos Capital. Credit Suisse is still conducting an investigation of what happened with the Greensill-linked funds and is due to announce its findings soon. 

The bank marketed the popular supply-chain finance funds as among the safest investments it offered, because the loans they held were backed by invoices usually paid in a matter of weeks. But as the funds grew into a $10 billion strategy, they strayed from that pitch and much of the money was lent through Greensill against expected future invoices, for sales that were merely predicted. 

The business quickly collapsed after Greensill’s loss of trade credit insurance on many of its notes to less credit-worthy borrowers.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.