LONDON: Troubled UK finance firm Greensill has collapsed into administration after encountering serious financial difficulties, administrators Grant Thornton said Monday, sparking fears for the future of thousands of jobs worldwide. Greensill specializes in short-term supply chain financing for businesses, but itself faces funding problems and mounting questions over opaque and complex accounting methods.

Administration caps a crisis-hit month for Greensill, whose collapse risks more than 50,000 jobs-including over 7,000 in Australia-across the group and its customers. "Chris Laverty, Trevor O'Sullivan and Will Stagg of Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed as joint administrators of Greensill Capital (UK) Limited and Greensill Capital Management Company Limited," Grant Thornton said in a statement on Monday. "The joint administrators are in continued discussion with an interested party in relation to the purchase of certain Greensill Capital assets.

"As these discussions remain ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time." Sources close to the matter confirmed a Financial Times report that US private equity firm Apollo was seeking to buy parts of the group. The paper cautioned however that any Apollo rescue would not include loans made to the GFG Alliance Group headed by Indian-British steel billionaire Sanjeev Gupta. Greensill lawyers appeared before a UK court on Monday, stating in court documents that it has "fallen into severe financial distress" and can no longer pay debts, the FT said. Both Greensill and Apollo have declined to comment on the matter.

Swiss and German problems

Greensill was thrown into crisis one week ago when lender Credit Suisse suspended $10 billion in funds after discovering that $4.6 billion of insurance underpinning Greensill contracts had expired. Greensill lawyers said Monday that Credit Suisse had demanded repayment of a $140-million loan-but had admitted that the firm has "no conceivable way" of repaying the sum. The financier also has $5.0 billion of exposure to GFG Alliance Group, which is also facing financial difficulty according to Greensill lawyers. A GFG Alliance spokesman said Monday the firm is functioning normally.

"Our operations are running as normal and our core businesses continue to benefit from strong market conditions generating robust sales and cash flows," the spokesman told AFP. The group was "making progress in our discussions with financial institutions that can help diversify our funding" and would provide updates following developments, he said.

Greensill also suffered a heavy blow last Wednesday when Germany's financial watchdog froze the operations of its German banking subsidiary, citing an "imminent risk" of over-indebtedness. The public prosecutor's office in Bremen told AFP that it has opened a preliminary probe. German media reported that regulator Bafin has filed a criminal complaint against Greensill Bank over allegations it falsified balance sheets.

Bafin on Wednesday froze payments in and out of Greensill Bank, essentially closing it down. It also expressed concern about accounting irregularities, including dealings with the GFG Alliance Group. There are worries in Britain about GFG Alliance facing difficulties as Gupta owns Liberty Steel, which employs 5,000 workers in Britain.

There is such concern in the British government that a minister held an urgent meeting with Liberty Steel's chief on Sunday, the BBC reported. London-headquartered Greensill was founded in 2011 by Australian Lex Greensill. Its activities span Australia and the United States. Administration refers to the process whereby a troubled company calls in outside expertise to try to minimize job losses. - AFP