According to experts, Germany’s largest private bank has successfully restructured itself.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf The hedge fund Marshall Wace has positioned itself at Deutsche Bank for falling share prices. This is shown by data published in the Federal Gazette late Monday afternoon. They reflect the status of Friday.
Accordingly, the London hedge fund has “shorted” 0.61 percent of the institute’s freely tradable shares. So he borrowed those shares and immediately sold them. If the price falls, Marshall Wace benefits because he can buy back the shares at a lower price before the redemption date. The difference between the sell and buy price is the profit. Hedge funds can thus bet on falling prices and make money from them.
However, it is not certain whether the current case is really a short bet. On request it says: “Marshall Wace does not comment on individual positions.” Theoretically, it can also be a hedge against price risks.
However, Marshall Wace is considered a specialist for short bets and is currently positioned at 14 German companies for falling prices – including Flatexdegiro, Delivery Hero and Nagarro for a long time. Prices for all three stocks have plummeted over the past year. Accordingly, bets on falling prices were lucrative.
Last week, a surge in the price of Deutsche Bank’s CDS increased worries about the health of European banks. The stock then collapsed by almost 15 percent on Friday before recovering somewhat on Monday.
The reasons for the sharp rise in CDS remain unclear. According to industry experts, Deutsche Bank has successfully restructured itself and is not comparable to the Swiss crisis bank Credit Suisse, which had to be taken over by competitor UBS.
Nicolas Payen, banking analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, wrote: “Deutsche Bank is not the ‘weak link’ in the European banking landscape.” He points to the “very solid” fundamentals. Some market participants therefore suspected short sellers behind the action, who would have bet on a price drop at Deutsche Bank.
>> Read here: Comment – Black Friday for Deutsche Bank
Marshall Wace’s position is the first short against Deutsche Bank to be published in the Federal Gazette. Positions are displayed here that are above the reporting threshold of 0.5 percent of a company’s freely tradable shares. Positions below this must be reported to the financial supervisory authority Bafin, but are not visible to the public.
According to the financial data provider Ortex, however, significantly more Deutsche Bank shares are shorted. According to his calculations, the rate is currently 3.28 percent. As a result, short bets have almost tripled in two weeks.
More: Betting against Deutsche Bank