Hedge funds hammered as takeovers appear in European markets!
Would you swap you life for that of a hedge fund manager at the moment? Would you like to be trading in a sector which is literally losing its marbles?
News that Porsche has announced it is to takeover Volkswagen in a swift move has caught many hedge funds on the hop as they have all been selling the shares down as trade and the group's financial position continued to worsen over recent weeks and months. This move has seen hedge fund manager's jump into the market to close off their short positions with the VW share price rising by nearly 150% today.
However, the move has caused serious concerns in the European markets as Porsche has used financial derivatives to quietly increase its stake in the business from 35% to 74.1% with nobody in the market remotely aware that they were looking to takeover VW.
While many will see this as sweet revenge on a sector which lives on the edge of the markets, on the surface it does actually seem to go against all share purchase regulations and is likely to be investigated by the authorities. Quite what they can do in this instance remains to be seen.
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