Greensill Bank’s Administrator Wins Australian Asset Freeze

(Bloomberg) -- A German lawyer handling the insolvency of Greensill Capital’s bank unit won a request to freeze the collapsed lender’s Australian assets, as part of an effort to cooperate with counterparts to recover as much as possible for the supply-chain finance firm’s creditors.

Michael Frege had submitted an application to the Federal Court of Australia on March 31 asking for the court to hand over insolvency proceedings on the business to the German unit, where the entity has its “main interest,” according to court documents.

The administrator also filed a lawsuit in London last week to safeguard the position of the bank, which collected deposits from German investors and has liabilities estimated to exceed 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion), according to the filing.

A group of lenders that runs a deposit insurance fund is seeking 2 billion euros from Greensill Bank while uninsured depositors also want their money back.

The case makes no mention of Greensill’s Australian holding company, Greensill Capital Pty Ltd, which is based in founder Lex Greensill’s hometown of Bundaberg, Queensland.

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