Jun 25, 2017

US hedge fund in anonymous bet against Tesco shares

A $20bn New York hedge fund is using an offshore shell company to anonymously bet against the shares of the UK supermarket Tesco, raising fresh questions over the efficacy of European short selling disclosure rules. Tiger Global, one of the world's largest hedge funds, has made use of a Cayman Islands-registered vehicle called Delores Holdings Ltd to make a short bet against close to £100m of Tesco shares, according to people familiar with the situation. Tesco declined to comment on the Delores Holdings Ltd short position in its shares. Tiger Global, which also used the Delores vehicle to bet against the Spain-listed DIA supermarket, has for several years employed a highly successful strategy of taking large stakes in disruptive ecommerce companies, notably Amazon, and selling short the companies they are disrupting. Tesco shares have fallen 17 per cent since Tiger Global's Delores vehicle disclosed its bet against the company in early January, meaning the hedge fund's profit on the trade so far is likely to be in the tens of millions of pounds.

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