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Greensill income built on high risk

Jenny Wiggins, Simon Evans and Hans van Leeuwen

Mar 17, 2021 – 11.30pm

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Greensill Capital’s biggest source of income was buying and selling invoices from risky companies that required insurance, underscoring its precarious business model, court documents have revealed.

Some 90 per cent of Greensill Capital’s annual revenues, which were $US420 million ($540 million) in 2019, came from insured receivables, Greensill founder and chief executive Lex Greensill told the UK High Court of Justice in a witness statement after filing for insolvency last week.

Jenny Wiggins writes on business, specialising in infrastructure, telecommunications and transport. Connect with Jenny on Bluesky: @jennywiggins.bsky.social

Simon Evans writes on business specialising in retail, manufacturing, beverages, mining and M&A. He is based in Adelaide.

Hans van Leeuwen is The Australian Financial Review’s former Europe correspondent. He is now International Economy editor for The Telegraph UK.