June 17, 2022
11:44
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The wealthy Boël family is once again on the defensive now that George Michelakis, a former international chess champion from South Africa, shorts its investment company Sofina.
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Gladstone Capital Management, the London hedge fund around Michelakis, has built up a short position of 0.5 percent in Sofina, according to data from the Belgian stock market watchdog FSMA.
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In human language: Michelakis and co. are betting that the listed investment company around the Belgian industrial Boël dynasty will fall in value considerably in the long term.
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In a past life, Gladstone boss George Michelakis was awarded the title of ‘master’ of the International Chess Federation.
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Gladstone Capital Management is not ready for its test with the attack on Sofina. The London hedge fund is one of the most active shorts in Europe and has dozens of positions in European listed companies.
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The driving force behind Gladstone Capital Management is George Michelakis. The South African, who played chess at the top level before moving to the City of London and was awarded the title of ‘master’ by the International Chess Federation, founded Gladstone in 2005.
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Since then, Michelakis has built Gladstone into an überdiscreet giant that manages nearly 3 billion euros in assets. Gladstone has long been considered one of the best performing hedge funds. According to the British business newspaper Financial Times, the fund has had a harder time since last year.
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Wirecard-shorter
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The big difference with fellow shorter Michelakis is that Fraser Perring seems to have limited himself to a verbal attack on Sofina so far. The FSMA has not yet reported any short positions of Viceroy Capital, Perring’s investment vehicle. The regulator only makes positions from 0.5 percent public. If a shorter has taken smaller positions, this is not disclosed by the FSMA.
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Due to Perring’s attack and the malaise in the tech sector, in which Sofina invests heavily, the investment company has already fallen by more than 53 percent on the Brussels stock exchange since New Year. The news that a new short will appear on the horizon has no impact on the price for the time being. Sofina
profits on Friday from the recovery movement on the Brussels stock exchange and is more than 3 percent higher.
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