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partner of healthcare invest-
ment firm ATEM Capital. “In the
end, the big risk is that it will
prolong the pandemic here.”
The challenges of rolling
the shot out across Russia’s
vast land mass in the midst of
harsh winter conditions have
also hampered the campaign.
On Thursday, Mr. Putin said
nine of Russia’s 85 regions
hadn’t begun vaccinating.
The Sputnik V shot has faced
challenges from the start. It
was approved in August, just a
few months after development
started
and
before
large-
scale clinical trials were con-
ducted. Then, as Russia began
to roll it out in December, pro-
duction problems meant the
country could deliver only a
fraction of the doses that offi-
cials had initially promised.
A peer-reviewed study, pub-
lished in February in the Lan-
cet, a British medical journal,
showed the vaccine was 91.6%
effective in preventing symp-
tomatic Covid-19 and had no
serious side effects. Russian
drug manufacturers, mean-
while, have recently stepped up
production. Indeed, some ana-
lysts expect a glut of vaccines
if demand doesn’t pick up.
Abroad, Russia has con-
ducted a public-relations cam-
paign, including posting video
Agree strongly
Somewhat
Brazil*
72%
16%
U.K.
67
22
Mexico*
62
23
Canada
55
24
Italy
54
26
Spain
54
26
U.S.
47
24
China*
44
41
Australia
43
30
Germany
43
25
S. Korea
31
47
S. Africa*
31
30
France
31
26
Japan
19
45
Russia*
17
25
Respondents who would get a
Covid-19 vaccine, if available
*May represent more urban, educated, or
affluent population. Note: Ipsos survey
conducted Jan. 28–31, MOE: ±3.5 pct. pts.
& Co. Greensill’s goal was to of-
fer supply-chain finance to
companies that had fallen be-
low the radar of traditional
banks that preferred larger,
more-established clientele.
In a typical supply-chain fi-
nance deal, Greensill would pay
a company’s suppliers sooner
than they would normally ex-
pect, but at a discount. The
company then would pay
Greensill the full amount down
the road. The supplier would
get paid early, the company
would have more flexibility over
its cash, and Greensill would be
left with a small profit.
Instead of holding the cash
advances—which typically get
renewed every 60 or 120
days—on its balance sheet like
a traditional bank, Greensill
spun most of them into bond-
like securities, or notes.
Investment funds managed
by Credit Suisse and GAM Hold-
ing AG scooped up those notes,
providing professional investor
clients with what appeared to
be a low-risk way to eke out
higher returns than could be
gained in bank accounts or
money-market funds. The funds
served as off-balance-sheet fi-
nancing for Greensill.
Greensill’s operations seized
last week when Credit Suisse
stopped investors from moving
money in or out of the $10 bil-
lion in supply-chain invest-
ment funds. GAM followed suit
the next day with its $800 mil-
lion fund. Both have said they
would wind down the funds.
The Credit Suisse move was
triggered after Greensill lost
coverage from credit insurers
that provided protection in case
the startup’s clients defaulted.
The insurance was crucial
because it made Greensill’s as-
sets appear safer to Credit
Suisse’s institutional investors,
some of whom are restricted
from putting cash into riskier
investments.
The Credit Suisse and GAM
funds could face losses if Green-
Continued from Page One
sill’s clients aren’t able to pay
back their supply-chain finance
loans. More than 50% of the
borrowers in the Credit Suisse
funds were based in the U.S.
As part of its insolvency
process, Greensill is in talks to
sell its core operations to
Apollo Global Management and
its insurance affiliate Athene
Holding Ltd. for around $100
million, The Wall Street Jour-
nal previously reported, citing
people familiar with the matter.
Greensill’s loans were mostly
short-term, and some custom-
ers without access to cash will
need to find alternate sources
of financing in the coming
weeks and months. Apollo will
use Athene Holding to fill in
the funding gap for some, but
not all, of Greensill’s clients. It
has been reaching out to
Greensill clients in recent days,
the Journal has reported.
Greensill’s operations have
grown rapidly in recent years.
The number of staff ballooned
to more than 1,000 employees in
2020 from 600 the year earlier.
It has also been on an acquisi-
tion spree, picking up a string of
fintech businesses in the past 18
months,
including
Finacity
Corp., Earnd and Omni Latam.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund was
set to write down its $1.5 bil-
lion Greensill investment, the
Journal previously reported,
citing a person familiar with
the matter. The startup’s other
big outside backer, private-eq-
uity firm General Atlantic, held
a roughly 7% stake in Greensill.
Further pain was being felt
in Germany, where Greensill
owned a small bank. The coun-
try’s financial regulator, BaFin,
recently appointed a special
representative to oversee day-
to-day operations of Bremen-
based Greensill Bank.
A preliminary tally shows
that as much as €700 million
of Greensill Bank’s deposits,
equivalent to $830 million, out
of a total of €3.6 billion, or
$4.3 billion, weren’t covered
by deposit insurance, accord-
ing to a person familiar with
the bank. Some of those de-
posits were held by German
municipalities, which were at-
tracted to Greensill for its
slightly higher interest rates.
German banks have increas-
ingly been passing on negative
rates to their customers.
“We are shocked,” said Jona-
than Berggötz, mayor of Bad
Dürrheim, a tiny spa town in the
Black Forest that had €2 million
deposited in Greensill Bank.
“We will use every opportunity
to get our money back,” he said.
Three other towns in Ger-
many said they face losses of
€6 million to €38 million each.
Executives at Grant Thorn-
ton U.K. will oversee Green-
sill’s insolvency procedure.
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