Short-selling: Man GLG, Marshall Wace and BlackRock dominate UK-listed bearish bets

Submitted 27/10/2021 - 10:48am -

Man GLG, the discretionary hedge fund unit of London-headquartered global asset management giant Man Group, now holds the largest number of short positions against UK-listed stocks, followed by Marshall Wace and BlackRock, according to new industry data.

New analysis from ETP provider GraniteShares shows that GLG – the long-running discretionary manager which runs a range of long/short equity, emerging market and multi-strategy credit funds – held 23 negative wagers on publicly-traded UK names.

Both Marshall Wace, the high-profile long/short equity giant set up by Sir Paul Marshall and Ian Wace in 1997, and US-based global asset manager BlackRock Investment Management each hold 21 bearish bets in London-listed companies, while JP Morgan Asset Management and Ennismore Fund Management have taken nine short positions, GraniteShares said on Wednesday.

Jupiter Investment Management and AQR Capital Management each hold eight short positions.

Cineworld, the beleaguered global movie theatre chain, remains the most shorted UK-listed name overall, with more than 9 per cent of its stock held short by seven investment managers, the data shows. 

Holding some 2.42 per cent of Cineworld’s shares, New Holland Capital holds the biggest bearish bet against the global cinema group, whose share price has endured a turbulent 18 months since the Covid-19 outbreak forced it to shutter 767 outlets globally. In March, Cineworld – a long-running target of hedge fund short sellers on both sides of the Atlantic – reported an eye-watering USD3 billion pre-tax loss for 2020.

FTSE 250-listed gold miner Petropavlovsk, whose operations are focused mainly in Russia, has 6.9 per cent of its stock held short by four short sellers.

Elsewhere, 6.3 per cent of property development and investment firm Hammerson’s stock is the subject of negative wagers by six hedge funds. Electronic payments provider Network International Holdings, and Wood Group (John) Plc, the Aberdeen-based engineering consultant, each have 4.6 per cent of their stock held short by four managers.

“Shorting stocks is no longer the exclusive pursuit of institutional investors, as sophisticated individual investors are now increasingly doing this,” said Will Rhind, Founder and CEO of GraniteShares.

Rhind noted the value of funds invested in its 3x short single stock ETPs listed on the London Stock Exchange was around USD34m million as of October 17, highlighting particular interest in certain US tech names such as Tesla, Uber, and Apple.  

“Worries about rising interest rates have had an impact on more growth-oriented tech names presenting a potential opportunity for some sophisticated investors seeking to take advantage of price declines over recent weeks.”

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Hugh Leask

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