Susquehanna, Gladstone see profit from Adler stock crash, Ortex says

Adler Real Estate AG

07/10/2021 17:31

* Susquehanna, Gladstone biggest short investors in Adler
    * Firms made almost 30 mln euros this month, Ortex says
    * Shares in Adler crashed this week after Viceroy attack
    * Adler denied Viceroy's claims, promises detailed reply

    By Danilo Masoni and Sujata Rao
    MILAN, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Susquehanna International Holdings
and Gladstone Capital Management made millions of euros in
potential profit after shares in German real estate firm Adler
tanked this week, data from financial analytics firm Ortex
showed on Thursday.
    Susquehanna and Gladstone are the biggest short sellers in
Adler, filings show, a trading position that involves borrowing
shares and selling them on with the aim of buying them back more
cheaply, if the stock falls, and pocketing the difference.
    Shares in Adler Group  ADJ.DE  fell as much as 33% on
Wednesday and its listed real estate arm  ADLG.DE  was also hit
hard after activist investor Viceroy Research said in a 61-page
report posted on Twitter that Adler was "not investible". 
    Luxembourg-based Adler rejected Viceroy's allegations,
including that its balance sheet was artificially inflated. It
said on Wednesday it planned a detailed response.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2R21LY
    Wednesday's share price falls would have netted 3.9 million
euros ($4.5 million) in profit for Susquehanna and 5.7 million
euros for Gladstone, Ortex estimates. Since the beginning of
September, their profit would amount to 12 million euros and
almost 17 million euros respectively.  
    Gladstone and Susquehanna are the only firms with shorts
amounting to more than 0.5% in both firms, filings show.
    Filings show Susquehanna had a 1.2% short position on Adler
Group as of Tuesday, having progressively increased it from
0.67% disclosed in August, while Gladstone had 1.41% short in
Adler Real Estate  ADLG.DE , also after progressively lifting it
from 0.54% disclosed in July.
    Gladstone declined to comment and Susquehanna did not
respond to a request for comment.
    Rumours about a short-seller attack targeting Adler first
surfaced in June. Since then, Adler has lost more 1.7 billion
euros in market value and is now worth around 1.2 billion euros.
    Adler Real Estate has lost 500 million euros in value.  
    According to data from FIS Astec, short interest in Adler
Group is currently estimated to be 20% of the freefloat and the
volumes on loan have been growing since July.    
    Adler shares fell by a further 8% on Thursday, before
turning around in volatile trade. They were last up 10%.   


    ($1 = 0.8651 euros)

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Adler shares    https://tmsnrt.rs/3uNB1Uw
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 (Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Edmund Blair)
 ((Danilo.Masoni@TR.com; +39-02-66129734; Reuters Messaging:
danilo.masoni.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; On Twitter https://twitter.com/damasoni))