Private equity giant Apollo pulls out of talks with Greensill Capital
US private equity firm Apollo Global Management has ended talks to buy parts of Greensill Capital’s business.
The beleaguered finance firm filed for insolvency earlier this week after Credit Suisse suspended redemptions on a $10bn suite of Greensill-linked funds.
Greensill specialises in supply-chain finance which provides short-term credit to businesses. It bundles the debt and sells to financial firms like Credit Suisse.
Before the firm formally appointed Grant Thornton as its administrators there had been reports Athene and Apollo were eyeing parts of Greensill’s business. Monday’s court filings revealed Grant Thornton had in principle agreed to sell Greensill’s intellectual property and technology platform for processing client payments for $60m.
Now Apollo has ended talks with Grant Thornton after a JPMorgan investment in Greensill’s technology partner, according to Reuters.
Since Greensill filed for insolvency there has been concern it could lead to thousands of jobs being lost at Sanjeev Gupta’s steel firm GFG Alliance. Court filings submitted earlier this week showed GFG, Greensill’s biggest client, had begun to default on repayments.
It has been reported the steel magnate could owe up to £3m. In an internal message to staff seen by City A.M. Gupta said there had been “constructive discussions” with Grant Thornton over a “standstill agreement”.
A formal deal “would put on hold arrangements between the two parties and allow both sides more time to assess and negotiate next steps,” the message said.
City A.M. contacted Greensill for comment. Apollo declined to comment.