Silence in the concert hall. But unlike usual, the audience does not wait for the orchestra to play. Greensill’s creditors gather in the Bell Hall today – some with files on their laps and a lot of distance from one another. There is hardly any chat about the rows of chairs. The silence screams: consternation. Employees of the insolvent Bremer Bank also came this Tuesday morning.
Insolvency administrator Michael Frege sits on the stage with two colleagues. He looks around the hall attentively. Then the doors close and the creditors’ meeting begins. In his report, Frege from the law firm CMS makes it clear: There is a marathon ahead of everyone involved. The meeting is just the beginning of the long end of a bank. Frege expects the procedure to take five to ten years – rather the latter. The Greensill file is not going to close quickly.
Mayors of several cities sit in the audience. Some of them have to fear tens of millions. How much of the money will Monheim, Osnabrück or Nordenham see again? This is currently still open. However, Michael Frege announced: “You will have to reckon with a failure.” At the same time he emphasized that there was no total loss. Frege wants to quickly win the highest possible bankruptcy estate. 40 lawyers and employees of the firm are on the case. Greensill property is to be turned into cash: real estate in Bremen worth 15 million euros. And there are three planes in a hangar somewhere in Liverpool. They should be sold quickly. For this, 35 to 40 million euros are set.
In two to five years, the bankruptcy estate should be two billion euros. But the case is complex, among other things because the group as a whole is affected by solvency and not just the Bremen subsidiary. There must also be exchange with Greensill in London, Australia and America. The bank has enormous claims against the group of the entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta. Questions about credit insurance and liability need to be clarified. Disputes in court are to be expected. And what makes things more difficult: It is being investigated for fraud. Despite everything, Frege tried to inspire confidence. The substance is there to enforce the positions abroad.
In his remarks, the lawyer also addressed the difficult situation for the employees. The bank has no prospect of a future. At the beginning of the year Greensill had almost 140 employees. The situation is likely to be particularly bitter for those who switched from NordLB to the bank in Martinistraße. It should not be a few.
On March 16, the insolvency proceedings for Greensill were opened by the Bremen District Court. Around 22,000 private investors have received compensation through the deposit protection fund. The municipalities’ money is no longer secured by it. According to Hubertus Kolster from the law firm CMS, there was a loss of four billion euros on Tuesday. But there are other requirements that still need to be examined. First of all, one billion euros must also be returned to the statutory compensation fund.
Despite the prospect of being able to save part of the plant, in addition to the hope, there was resentment on the part of the municipalities, because they no longer see themselves well represented in the newly elected committee of creditors. In principle, the members must keep an eye on all of the creditors. The mayor of the city of Monheim am Rhein, Daniel Zimmermann, is still critical of the composition. The lawyer Rainer Eckert, who with his law firm represents 16 other affected municipalities in addition to Monheim, is no longer a member of the committee. Now only representatives “at the mercy of the banking association” have come to the train.
For Monheim it is about 38 million euros. Mayor Zimmermann says with a view to the goals of the insolvency administrator, in the next five years the municipalities could hope to get about a quarter of the deposits back. “Of course we are happy about every euro more.”
The city of Nordenham is also among those affected with a sum of 13.5 million euros. Mayor Carsten Seyfarth (SPD) was disappointed with the change in the creditors’ committee. “I don’t understand that,” he said afterwards. Insolvency administrator Michael Frege, who was confirmed at the roughly three-hour meeting, presented a very detailed and unvarnished report – and prepared the creditors for a long-distance run.
The stage curtain of the bell remained closed on Tuesday. Much of the drama is still hidden in the play Greensill. And the entire process should also be accompanied by the question of whether control bodies such as the financial supervisory authority Bafin, the supervisory board or the auditors have fulfilled their task.
–
