SoftBank Said to Write Down $1.5 Billion Greensill Holding
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund has substantially written down its $1.5 billion holding in Greensill Capital, and is considering dropping the valuation to close to zero, people familiar with the matter said.
The writedown occurred at the end of 2020, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the decision isn't public. Representatives for SoftBank and Greensill declined to comment.
In recent months, the supply-chain finance company owned by billionaire Lex Greensill has been looking for ways to raise capital with the ultimate aim of going public, people familiar with the matter have said previously.
However, the firm has been seeking to cut risk on its bank loan book under pressure from the German regulator BaFin, separate people familiar with the matter said. On Monday, key customer Credit Suisse Group AG suspended funds that invest in Greensill products amid concerns about the size of its exposure to firms linked to U.K. industrialist Sanjeev Gupta, according to a Credit Suisse statement and people familiar.
Gupta is the head of GFG Alliance and invests in and revamps moribund steel and power plants. Securities linked to Gupta and arranged by Greensill were among investments at the center of a 2018 crisis at Swiss asset manager GAM Holding AG that brought down star trader Tim Haywood. Loans linked to GFG also featured prominently in supply-chain finance funds at Credit Suisse, for which the bank teamed up with Greensill.
The investment into Greensill by the Vision Fund was led by former managing partner Colin Fan, who recently left his role at the behemoth investment fund. SoftBank redeemed $700 million from the Credit Suisse funds last year, amid conflict of interest accusations. Many of the companies that were financed by the investment vehicles were also Vision Fund portfolio companies, including Indian hotel chain Oyo and Fair Financial Corp.
The Vision Fund has rebounded from a rocky spell over 2020, reporting a 844.1 billion yen ($7.9 billion) profit in the three months ended Dec. 31, surpassing record numbers set just a quarter earlier.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
-
'Never Seen This Level Of Negativity': Sandeep Tandon Says The Next Rally May Be Closer Than You Think
Veteran investor Sandeep Tandon says foreign selling is easing, large-caps are due a comeback and mid-caps are crowded, while he turns positive on gold, power and pharma this Diwali.
-
Indians Stay With Family, Not In Hotels | The Reason Why
India still lacks enough clean, reliable and affordable hotels for budget-conscious travellers.
