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新聞對照：放空福斯股 避險基金狂賠1兆
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2008/10/30 16:47 瀏覽5,163 ｜回應0｜推薦0 |
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VW shares halve as Porsche eases short squeeze
By Christiaan Hetzner
Shares in carmaker Volkswagen nearly halved on Wednesday after controlling shareholder Porsche took steps to ease a squeeze on shortsellers that more than quadrupled the stock in days.
Porsche itself had prompted the meteoric rise in VW stock with its announcement on Sunday that it had effective control of 74.1 percent of VW, leaving less than 6 percent in the market.
"In order to avoid further market distortions and the resulting consequences for those involved, Porsche SE intends... to settle hedging transactions in the amount of up to 5 percent of the Volkswagen ordinary shares," Porsche said in a statement.
"This may result in an increase in the liquidity of the Volkswagen ordinary shares," it added.
Merck Finck's Robert Heberger said Porsche's counterparty in the options deal would probably have covered their position by buying VW shares, and could release some now that Porsche had settled some of the options.
The stampede to cover open short positions after Sunday's announcement vaulted VW's market value to 278 billion euros (221.2 billion pounds) and its shares to finish at a record 945 euros on Tuesday.
Investors cried foul, and German securities watchdog BaFin said it would take a closer look at Porsche's dealings for signs of insider trading and market manipulation, but the company said again on Wednesday it had done nothing wrong.
Analysts at Commerzbank and Merck Finck estimated Porsche's strike price on its cash-settled hedges were around 100 euros per share, meaning Porsche could make 5.9 billion euros from selling 5 percent of its call options at a price of 500 euros.
Although it stands to gain more than the value of all of its listed preferred shares put together, a Porsche spokesman denied speculation it wanted to "cash in" with the deal.
CLAMPDOWN
German hedge fund association BAI said some funds might have been damaged by the squeeze, but that was inevitable in a market economy.
Aleksander Kluzniak, its chief lobbyist, said he saw no need for a regulatory clampdown on derivatives, such as a registry of hedging positions, just because the market was surprised by creeping takeovers like Porsche-VW and Schaeffler-Continental, which were facilitated by building up positions in cash settled options.
"I doubt it would lead to the required results. New types of derivatives or trading techniques would emerge that were not subject to this regulation," Kluzniak explained.
Only 24 hours after peaking as the world's biggest company by market value, VW stock fell on Wednesday as low as 491 euros as the market exhaled in relief that Porsche was releasing a part of its hedge and alleviating the worst of the squeeze.
The retreat in VW stock kept Germany's blue-chip DAX index in check despite-double digit percentage gains on other stocks after Wall Street clocked up its second best day's gain on Tuesday.
Down 36 percent at 600 euros by 11:41 a.m. British time, VW's fall shaved off roughly 485 points from the index on Wednesday, meaning the DAX would otherwise be trading up nearly 11 percent were it not for the Volkswagen effect.
VW WEIGHTING CUT
Deutsche Boerse, operator of the Frankfurt exchange, said late on Tuesday it would cut the weighting of Volkswagen shares in the DAX to 10 percent from Monday after VW's leap had distorted the index.
Index provider Stoxx Ltd also said it would cut the weighting of Volkswagen shares in its main indexes and cut Volkswagen's free float factor to 0.3732 from 0.4963.
Volkswagen shares touched 1,000 euros at one point, pushing its weighting in the 30 member-DAX index to 27 percent.
Shortsellers who rushed to close their positions after Porsche's announcement on Sunday were paying virtually any price to get their hands on the few remaining shares, even though Porsche insisted its announcement would allow short sellers to unwind their positions "without haste and without greater risk."
There was wide speculation about which investment companies had been caught out by the short squeeze, and many banking shares fell as a result.
Hedge fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital suffered heavy losses from a VW trade, people familiar with his portfolio said on Tuesday. The fund declined comment.
原文參照：
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/panicked-traders-take-vw-on-a-wild-ride/
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/29/business/OUKBS-UK-VOLKSWAGEN.php
放空福斯股 避險基金狂賠1兆
德國保時捷汽車公司不但會造跑車，在金融市場撈錢的手法更是一流，這兩天靠操作福斯公司股票，讓放空福斯股的避險基金一天輸掉300億歐元，據稱許多避險基金經理人當場落淚。
避險基金原本預期福斯會和其他汽車廠一樣走下坡，大舉放空福斯，截至10月23日，融券占該公司普通股發行量13%，是德國股市指數成分股中融券放空比率最高的個股。
不料突然殺出保時捷這個程咬金，26日宣布透過衍生工具，把福斯持股比率由42.6%提高至74%，加上福斯總部所在的下薩克森州政府持有的20.1%股權，使得市場流通的福斯股票還不到6%。
不少放空福斯股票的避險基金急忙回補，刺激福斯股價在兩天內由210歐元狂漲破千，28日最高衝到1005歐元。避險基金一口氣狂輸300億歐元（約台幣1兆2700億元），可能寫下避險基金史上，單一股票最高損失紀錄。
空頭匆匆回補，市場流通的福斯股票又不多，讓福斯股價一飛衝天，福斯市值跟著水漲船高，最高時達到2960億歐元（3670億美元），一度超越埃克森美孚石油的3430億美元，成為全球最大市值公司。英國每日郵報報導說，一些避險基金經理人輸到落淚，還是只能含淚搶買高價的福斯股票回補。
福斯股價28日收在945歐元，比上周五收的210歐元暴漲350%。但由於保時捷看避險基金賠得慘兮兮，承諾透過期貨操作釋出5%福斯股票，讓放空者軋平，福斯股價29日開盤又暴跌48%至491歐元。
除了避險基金栽了個大跟頭，投資銀行也因放空福斯而吃了悶虧，市場揣測法興銀行持有福斯相關的衍生工具，拖累其股價一度急挫17%。在美國華爾街股市，市場傳言高盛公司慘遭軋空，28日股價重挫6%。摩根士丹利也受同樣同樣困擾，股價一度重挫12%，迫使大摩發表聲明，澄清沒有放空福斯。
有些基金經理氣憤的大罵，德國股市根本是笑話，也有人質疑保時捷操控。
有分析師表示，保時捷不僅因福斯股價暴漲而獲利，在交易員拚命補倉時，保時捷靠融券、買進賣出、約期出售選擇權，可能賺進數十億歐元。
保時捷立刻否認操控，表示對福斯大舉放空者是自食其果。福斯股價走勢已引起德國監管單位注意，表示將觀察是否涉及操控。
2008/10/30 聯合報 AA2國際 編譯朱小明、陳家齊/綜合報導
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