Alexander Greensill

The London-based “supply chain finance” business Greensill Capital was ounded in 2011 by Lex ­Greensill, son of a long-time Bundaberg farming family. Greensill Capital is now worth more than $2 billion after receiving a capital injection of more than $300 million from a global private equity giant in July 2018. It has become a key player in the disruption of the global financial ­services sector by using technology to usurp the traditional role played by the big banks. Supply chain finance is a way for big ­corporations to use cash supplied by third parties — increasingly, “fintech” (financial technology) companies such as Greensill Capital — to pay their suppliers promptly. As a result the ­suppliers, which are usually small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, get faster access to the money they’re owed, giving them more cash on their balance sheet, while the corporation generally gets more time to pay. Greensill Capital, which charges a fee and an interest rate for providing the finance, is now the second largest player in global supply chain financing behind US investment bank Citi — and Lex Greensill expects the company to take the top spot over the coming year. For the 41-year-old, who was this year awarded a CBE for services to the British economy, it’s the fulfilment of what some would have viewed as a crazy global ambition. Lex Greensill says his heart remains firmly in the family business, the Greensill Farming Group, which he owns with his younger brothers Andrew, 40, and Peter, 37. The Greensill Farming Group, now run by Peter, was established by Lex’s grandfather Roy in 1947 and inherited by his father, Lloyd. Lex and Peter ­Greensill became billionaires overnight in July 2018 when a ­strategic $US250 million investment from private equity firm General Atlantic valued Greensill Capital at $US1.64 billion. (Andrew doesn’t have an interest in Greensill Capital.)