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Short sellers the winners as price fell
Evening Standard 29 Sep 2008
Not everyone lost money on the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley. The short-sellers who have been blamed for the takeover of HBOS have made fortunes betting on B&B's falling share price.
The big winners include Chase Coleman's New York hedge fund Tiger Global Management. During July's right's issue, when the shares were around 50p, it disclosed it was short 3% of the company.
This week its short position had come down to just over 1%, which implies the fund has already booked profits of more than £20 million.
Other big betters on the bank's demise included Conservative Party donor Michael Hintze's CQS and New York hedge funds Steadfast International and Samlyn Capital.
Crispin Odey's Odey Asset Management was also a shorter during the rights issue but appears to have closed its position since then.
