Lex Greensill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lex Greensill | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexander David Greensill 29 December 1976 |
Alexander David "Lex" Greensill CBE (born 29 December 1976[1]) is an Australian former 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.
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]