Credit Suisse's asset management arm suspends supply chain finance funds

Credit Suisse Group AG unit Credit Suisse Asset Management (Switzerland) Ltd. has suspended redemptions and subscriptions of certain assets in its supply chain finance funds, the bank said in a statement March 1.

Credit Suisse said the suspension was necessary because a part of the funds "is currently subject to considerable uncertainties with respect to their accurate valuation."

The move comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that the bank is concerned about $10 billion worth of assets in the funds that are linked to specialty finance company Greensill Capital (UK) Ltd., which has a large exposure to a single U.K.-based client, steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta.

Greensill Capital is in talks with investors following Credit Suisse's actions, a spokesperson for the former told the newspaper. The company is also reportedly in discussions with private-equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. to sell its operating business for roughly $100 million.

The Journal also reported that Greensill appointed Grant Thornton for a possible insolvency.

The suspension takes effect March 1 and applies to the calculation of the net asset value per share and the issuance, redemption and conversion of shares in or out of the funds.

Meanwhile, SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund has significantly written down its $1.5 billion investment in Greensill and is looking at dropping the valuation to near zero, Bloomberg News reported the same day, citing people familiar with the matter. One of the sources said the writedown took place at the end of 2020.