Canadian investment firm Senvest lands $650 mln payday from GameStop surge

Senvest Capital

28/01/2021 22:35

By Maiya Keidan and Allison Lampert
    TORONTO/MONTREAL, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Little-known Canadian
investment firm Senvest Management LLC landed a
multimillion-dollar payday from betting on video game retailer
GameStop Corp  GME.N , which has been at the centre of a frenzy
driven by retail investors this week.
    The investment manager, owned by Canadian holding company
Senvest Capital  SEC.TO , has seen its 3.6 million shares in
GameStop rise 1,205.4% from last week, after they hit $483 a
share briefly on Thursday.
    The stock ended Thursday at $193, taking Senvest
Management's paper profit to about $650 million, which for a
firm that manages just $1 billion would land stellar returns
when it cashes out of the position.
    Senvest first disclosed a position in filings with the U.S.
regulator on Oct. 13. While the investment manager did not
reveal the acquisition price, GameStop stock traded in the range
of $9.10 and $15.87 in October. Reuters' estimate of Senvest's
gains is based on the Oct. 13 opening price of $11.73.
    An army of retail investors in recent days has powered a
massive rally in stocks, including GameStop and BlackBerry
 BB.TO . The stocks gave up some of their gains on Thursday
after online brokerages Robinhood Markets Inc and Interactive
Brokers restricted trading in the red-hot stocks.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K33F3
    Other investors like BlackRock  BLK.N  have also benefited
from the GameStop stock rally.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K23QG
    A spokesperson for Senvest Management, which is based in New
York and founded by Richard Marshal in 1997, declined to
comment. Senvest is GameStop's seventh biggest shareholder,
according to Refinitiv data.
    The firm has more than $1 billion in assets under management
and runs a contrarian, value-based investment strategy,
according to its website.
    Montreal-headquartered Senvest Capital operates as a holding
company with interests in investment management and direct
investing in public securities and private investments,
according to its website.
    Shares of publicly traded Senvest Capital ended down 0.6% at
C$280 on Thursday.
    ($1 = 1.2806 Canadian dollars)

 (Reporting by Maiya Keidan and Allison Lampert; Editing by
Denny Thomas and Richard Chang)
 ((Maiya.Keidan@thomsonreuters.com; 44 207 542 1594; Reuters
Messaging: maiya.keidan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))