Those who run after their debtors and finally get their money back should not be choosy. The CS customers who had invested in the damned Greensill funds also have to take this to heart.
Pictured is the Credit Suisse building in Zurich on March 12, 2012.
In sport and in life there are so-called “dirty wins”: important victories, but the achievement of which is quickly forgotten.
The stricken Credit Suisse celebrates such a dirty win in the truest sense of the word. For more than a year she has been struggling with the consequences of the bankruptcy of the finance company Greensill Capital; this bankruptcy caused major losses for its own fund customers and damaged the bank’s reputation.
Since March 2021, Credit Suisse has therefore been trying on behalf of its clients to collect funds from Greensill debtors who are themselves in difficulties. One of them: Bluestone Resources, a coal mine operator in West Virginia. For a long time, the negotiations were extremely sluggish; Bluestone had even launched a lawsuit against Greensill.
Some may still remember the year 2021: Coal was considered an energy source of the past, which had to be eradicated as quickly as possible. In terms of price, too, coal-fired power plants simply could no longer keep up with gas, wind or solar power plants. Bluestone also suffered from this.
But on February 24, Vladimir Putin sent his tanks into Ukraine, the West punished Russia, and energy markets became unrecognizable. In Europe, coal becomes the savior in times of need. In Austria and Germany, Green Ministers have old charcoal piles fired up again because gas is becoming scarce.
Bluestone can therefore again operate its mines close to the capacity limit and achieve significantly higher yields than expected. And suddenly there is money to serve creditors like Credit Suisse. The big bank does the only right thing: it closes its eyes and takes the coal millions. Tomorrow, with a slightly lighter backpack, the long journey into a green, sustainable future will continue.