Mizuho $126m credit to Radiant World was secured by allegedly invalid invoices, documents show

SINGAPORE — Mizuho Bank provided some US$100 million (S$126 million) in credit to Radiant World in June which was secured by invoices that a counterparty to the iron ore trader later said were invalid, according to documents and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Radiant World did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on Friday.

Details of the credit provided by Mizuho, the banking arm of Japan's Mizuho Financial Group, have not previously been reported.

A Mizuho spokesperson said it had no comment.

The Mizuho financing was secured against invoices which purported to be for Radiant World iron ore sales to Glencore, correspondence seen by Reuters shows. However, Glencore told Mizuho in early August that it did not recognise the invoices, the documents show.

Glencore, which had been a major counterparty to Radiant World, said in early August it had booked a provision on its exposure to it and on Friday said it had "stopped all business and exited all obligations" with the company.

"Glencore has incurred losses and been exposed to risks by Radiant's actions and will take appropriate action," a Glencore spokesperson said, without elaborating.

Radiant World said in a July 31 statement that allegations it supplied invalid invoices to raise funding were "inaccurate and unsubstantiated" and it continued to operate normally.

Singapore's police force said last month that it was investigating Radiant World after receiving reports about the company, without giving further details.

Little-known beyond commodity markets, the company founded by Pinkesh Nahar in 2003 has risen to become one of the world's largest iron ore traders.

Radiant World says it traded more than 80 million metric tons of the steel raw material last year.

新加坡——据文件和一位直接了解此事的消息人士透露，瑞穗银行在6月份向Radiant World提供了约1亿美元（1.26亿新元）的信贷，该信贷以发票作担保，但这家铁矿石贸易商的交易对手后来表示这些发票无效。

周五，Radiant World公司没有回应路透社的置评请求。

此前，日本瑞穗金融集团旗下银行瑞穗提供的信贷详情尚未被报道。

瑞穗银行发言人表示不予置评。

路透社看到的往来信函显示，瑞穗银行的融资是以一些据称是Radiant World公司向嘉能可出售铁矿石的发票作为担保的。然而，文件显示，嘉能可于8月初告知瑞穗银行，该公司不承认这些发票。

曾是 Radiant World 的主要交易对手的嘉能可，在 8 月初表示已对其在该交易中的风险敞口计提了准备金，并在上周五表示已“停止与该公司的一切业务往来并终止了所有义务”。

嘉能可发言人表示：“由于Radiant的行为，嘉能可遭受了损失并面临风险，嘉能可将采取适当措施。”但该发言人并未详细说明。

Radiant World 在 7 月 31 日的一份声明中表示，有关其提供无效发票以筹集资金的指控“不准确且未经证实”，该公司将继续正常运营。

新加坡警方上个月表示，在收到有关 Radiant World 公司的举报后，正在对该公司进行调查，但没有透露更多细节。

这家公司由 Pinkesh Nahar 于 2003 年创立，此前在商品市场之外鲜为人知，如今已发展成为全球最大的铁矿石贸易商之一。

Radiant World表示，该公司去年交易了超过8000万吨钢铁原材料。