Alexander David "Lex" Greensill CBE (born 29 December 1976[1]) is an Australian businessman best known for being the founder of Greensill Capital, a company focused on supply chain finance and derivative financial products that on 8 March 2021 filed for insolvency protection[2] and faced legal scrutiny.

Biography

Greensill was born in Bundaberg, a city in Queensland, in 1976,[3] to parents who owned a sugarcane and melon farm.[4]

Before becoming a banker, he was a sugarcane farmer and was expected to enter his family's farming business.[5] This began to change when he arrived in Britain in 2001. After four years he joined the American bank Morgan Stanley, and then Citigroup.[6]

He founded Greensill Capital in November 2011,[6] which was based in London.[3]

Early in his career, he served as a senior advisor to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, with an office based in 10 Downing Street.[3] He also claimed he was adviser to Barack Obama, after introduction by David Cameron.[7][8][9]

Demise of Greensill Capital

In the early months of 2021 Greensill Capital was on the verge of bankruptcy. Several criminal complaints were filed against the German subsidiary of Greensill Capital.[3] The subsidiary, Greensill Bank AG, in Bremen was closed by Germany's financial regulatory authority on 3 March 2021. It has been reported in several media outlets that over half of Greensill's business came from bundling and reselling accounts receivable of Sanjeev Gupta's steel business, and that this is the cause of the company's insolvency problems.[10][11]

Awards

At the 2017 Birthday Honours of Elizabeth II, he was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by Prince Charles,[12][3] for services to business.[4]

Wealth

Greensill was a billionaire and owned several private jets. He also frequently networked with the top echelons of the British establishment, including people like the former UK prime minister David Cameron and Neil Garrod, the chief treasurer of Vodafone.[13][14]

Due to the legal scrutiny and financial difficulty faced by Greensill's firm in early 2021, Greensill is no longer a billionaire. Stemming from the collapse of the firm, he faces several lawsuits.[15][16] Greensill and his family sold several million dollars worth of shares in the company in 2019, more than two years before it collapsed.[17] Despite having made the Financial Review 2020 Rich List, Greensill did not reach the threshold for inclusion on the 2021 Rich List.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Alexander David GREE". Companies House. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  2. ↑ Steinberg, Julie; Mavin, Duncan; Kowsmann, Patricia (8 March 2021). "Greensill Capital Tumbles Into Insolvency, Spreading Financial Pain". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Robert; Pooler, Michael; Storbeck, Olaf (5 March 2021). "The unravelling of Lex Greensill: a mix of bravado and financial alchemy". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 Duke, Simon; Clarence-Smith, Louisa (2 March 2021). "Lex Greensill's rags-to-riches story is unravelling". The Times. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  5. ↑ Mavin, Duncan (7 May 2019). "Who is Lex Greensill? The billionaire banker tied to GAM's crisis". outline.com.
  6. 1 2 Pogrund, Gabriel; Collingridge, John (27 March 2021). "David Cameron and the toxic banker Lex Greensill: the exclusive inside story". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  7. ↑ Pogrund, Gabriel. "Greensill claimed he was adviser to Obama after Cameron introduced them". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "How the son of Bundaberg farmer became a billionaire and lost his fortune in scandal". ABC News. 11 July 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  9. ↑ Nelson, Eshe; Ewing, Jack; Alderman, Liz (28 March 2021). "The Swift Collapse of a Company Built on Debt". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. ↑ "Why 5,000 jobs depend on Gupta, Greensill and the government". msn.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "How Sanjeev Gupta lived large on the back of rickety financing". Financial Times. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "Lex Greensill made a commander of the British Empire". greensill.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Stupples, Benjamin (5 March 2021). "Lex Greensill Exits Billionaire Ranks as His Empire Unravels". Bloomberg.
  14. ↑ Collingridge, John (30 June 2019). "Vodafone treasurer Neil Garrod joins controversial banker Greensill". The Sunday Times.
  15. ↑ Makortoff, Kalyeena; correspondent, Kalyeena Makortoff Banking (26 April 2021). "Greensill made scramble for cash months before collapse, US court filings claim". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  16. ↑ "Revealed: Lex Greensill accused of fraud". Australian Financial Review. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  17. ↑ Massoudi, Arash; Smith, Robert; Morris, Stephen. "Greensill family cashed out $200m before collapse". The Financial Times. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  18. ↑ Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (27 May 2021). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
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