AN emergency meeting has been held with Greensill Farming staff on Wednesday morning, following parent company Greensill Capital being placed in voluntary administration earlier in the week.
Despite the seemingly extremely bleak outlook for Greensill Capital, farm staff from the company's Bundaberg and Wallaville operations are understood to have been told it's farming as usual, at least in the immediate future.
However, there are signs the 3200 hectare farming operation is under significant pressure, with staff told that overtime work would be limited and to rein in any avoidable expenditure.
Greensill Farming is Australia's largest producer of sweet potatoes, a major grower of peanuts, and harvests about 1600ha of cane a year.
The collapse of Greensill Capital appears to have started in November when complaints were received by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority over Greensill's accounting methods.
Massive exposure to UK-based steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta's companies - which are reported to owe $7.2b to Greensill - have also taken its toll.
The regulatory concerns precipitated Swiss fund managers Credit Suisse and GAM ending their ties with Greensill and finance insurers withdrawing their support.
Germany's financial regulators were also reported to have suspended operations at Mr Greensill's bank in Bremen.
Now, Greensill Capital is desperately attempting to sell off large parts of the business to pay off a $140 million loan.
The company was placed in voluntary administration with advisory firm Grant Thornton in both Australia and the UK earlier this week.
Greensill Capital was established by Lex Greensill, a Bundaberg farmer turned banker in 2011. The company provides supply chain finance, making its money by charging a small percentage fee to pay invoices early, giving creditors earlier access to their money. Those invoices were then converted into bonds and traded on the market.
The growth of Greensill under the direction of Australia's 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year had been extraordinary. According to its website the company extended $143b to more than eight million customers in over 175 countries last year.
Mr Greensill cut his teeth in agripolitics as a policy adviser with the Growcom predecessor, the Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
In 2019 Mr Greensill told the Rural Press Club of Queensland his business was like a virus.
"We integrate ourselves so deeply and tightly with our customers that we are getting updated information roughly four times every second from our customers," Mr Greensill said.
"It means we can see, hear and feel the beating heart of the supply chain that we support.
"When you have your finger on the pulse like that you can deliver credit more efficiently that anyone else."
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