Nearly 450 jobs have been lost in London and Cheshire at Greensill Capital, the controversial lender advised by David Cameron, which collapsed into administration last week.
It is the first set of UK job losses linked to the Greensill crisis, which has raised fears over the future of tens of thousands of jobs at firms that relied on the group for loans to help pay their suppliers. One of its largest borrowers, Liberty Steel-owner GFG Alliance, was forced to pause production last week to conserve cash. It employs about 5,000 workers across the UK.
Cameron has come under fire after reports emerged that the former UK prime minister and Greensill shareholder had lobbied senior government officials to give the firm special access to the largest available tranche of emergency Covid loans just months before the lender collapsed. Cameron’s office did not respond to request for comment.
Although Greensill was headquartered in Australia, its largest offices were in the UK, where it employed nearly 600 staff. About 180 of those workers were based in London, with the vast majority operating out of a business park in Daresbury, Cheshire.
Administrators at Grant Thornton, which took over the company’s operations last week, confirmed on Friday they had cut 440 staff but were still on the hunt for a buyer that could potentially save the rest of the Greensill business after a deal with the private equity group Apollo Global Management fell through.
“Whilst the joint administrators are in continued discussion with interested parties in relation to the purchase of certain Greensill Capital assets, regrettably the joint administrators of Greensill Capital Management Company Limited have had to make [circa] 440 redundancies from the UK workforce,” a spokesman for Grant Thornton said.
“Those individuals impacted were informed on 12 March and were paid in full up to that time. A smaller number of employees have been retained for the purposes of the administration,” the spokesman confirmed.
The company’s Australian staff have not been as lucky. The failed financial empire currently owes between A$2m and $3m to 35 staff who were made redundant.
In the UK, questions are being raised about Cameron’s lobbying efforts. Labour is calling for an investigation into reports that he had contacted former colleagues to try to help the supply chain finance firm tap cheap, 100% government-backed loans through the Covid corporate financing facility (CCFF).
The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, said: “Taxpayers and businesses deserve answers about why it appears Greensill was given so much access to the Treasury at a time when the chancellor was refusing to engage with groups representing the millions of people he excluded from wage support.
“The chancellor must urgently set the record straight.”