AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Tommy Wilkes
LONDON | Fri Oct 7, 2011 10:32am BST
LONDON (Reuters) - Short-sellers are ramping up their bets against European fund managers hit by falling stock markets and the risk of nervous clients pulling out of their investments, research from Data Explorers shows.
Unlike banks and insurers, European asset managers have little direct exposure to Greek sovereign debt after selling their holdings as the country was downgraded in previous years.
But the wider market turmoil hurts managers' bottom lines as a slump in equity markets and a client rush for the exit hits the quantity of assets they manage -- which determines how much they earn in fees.
The percentage of stock out on loan -- a proxy indicator of shorting interest -- in Ashmore Group (ASHM.L), which runs assets invested in emerging markets, is up 48 percent at 2.24 percent of total shares in the month to October 5, the data shows.
Short interest in the company hit 2.73 percent on Monday, its highest level for at least three years -- the longest period the data covers.
Meanwhile, the share of stock out on loan in UK wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown (HRGV.L) is 2.4 percent, up 40 percent in the month to October 5 -- its highest level since late 2008 and making it the 13th most shorted stock in the FTSE 100.
The average ratio for stock out on loan in a FTSE 100-listed company is 1.32 percent of total shares outstanding, according to the research from Data Explorers.
Man Group (EMG.L), the world's largest listed hedge fund operator, has seen its stock out on loan rise to 1.85 percent of total shares outstanding, up 22 percent during the past month, and earlier this week it reached its highest level in 2011.
Stock on loan in Schroders (SDR.L), a 200-year old fund firm managing money for retail and institutional investors, is up around 19 percent in the week to October 5, to 2.21 percent of total shares outstanding, the data also shows.
Keith Baird, analyst at Oriel Securities, said fund managers shares often serve as leveraged plays on asset price moves - whereby falling markets combine with weakening investor sentiment to send their stock tumbling lower.
"If your earnings are directly driven by market levels then that's a second level of leverage so they are double leveraged, and so it wouldn't be surprising to see them move (downwards)," he said, noting that he has recently lowered his estimates for Schroders' investment flows performance to account for further market falls.
Last week Man Group said clients withdrew money over the summer months at the fastest pace since early 2009, while Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L), another London-listed funds house, reported 800 million pounds of net outflows in the two months to end-August.
However, Aberdeen has bucked the recent rising shorting interest in its rivals. The stock out on loan in Aberdeen has fallen to 3.09 percent of total shares outstanding on October 5 from 3.69 percent a month earlier.
The apparent rise in shorting interest in fund managers comes as shares in the UK's largest investment houses sharply underperform the FTSE 100 .FTSE.
Man Group shares are down more than 25 percent since the start of September, Ashmore by close to a fifth, Schroders by some 13 percent and Hargreaves by around 6 percent, against a 1.8 percent drop in Britain's blue chip index.
Other UK-listed fund managers outside the FTSE 100 have also seen growing short interest, the data shows.
The percentage of stock out on loan in UK house Jupiter Fund Management (JUP.L), which holds most of its assets in equity markets, has also increased over the last month, though at 1.20 percent it is still at a low level, according to the data.
(Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar