‘African Bank plunge no surprise to some’

African Bank head offices in Midrand.photo by Simphiwe Mbokazi 453

African Bank head offices in Midrand.photo by Simphiwe Mbokazi 453

Published Aug 8, 2014

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Johannesburg - African Bank Investments Ltd’s 95 percent stock plunge has been no surprise to some investors who borrowed a fifth of the lender’s shares in anticipation.

Almost 20 percent of the lender’s stock was on loan as of August 7, compared with as much as 25.3 percent in November, according to data compiled by London-based Markit Ltd.

Short-sellers borrow shares and sell them, expecting to buy them back later at a lower price for a profit.

South African’s largest supplier of unsecured loans plummeted after it said on August 6 its founder and chief executive officer resigned, losses will be at a record and it requires more than 8.5 billion rand of additional capital.

Among the investors to bet against the stock is Johannesburg-based 36ONE Asset Management, which has had short positions over the past two years.

“We are not taking any pleasure in African Bank’s demise but we have been positioned to benefit from the mis-pricing of their securities,” Jean Pierre Verster, who helps oversee the firm’s 4 billion-rand hedge fund, said by telephone yesterday.

South African equities have an average of 0.95 percent of their stock on loan, according to Markit.

As of August 7, the amount of African Bank Investments’s shares on loan totalled three-fourths of all shares that can be borrowed from lending programs, according to Markit.

The shares are “very heavily borrowed,” said Alex Brog, a spokesman for Markit.

“This means it would be hard and expensive to short any more of the stock.”

Verster said that on occasions over the past two years taking short positions became more expensive as demand increased, implying more investors were making the same bet. - Bloomberg News

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