Bloomberg- Lansdowne Partners Ltd. and LNG Capital LLP were among investors that profited from an “easy” bet over the past year on the 93 percent decline in Northern Rock Plc, the bank being nationalized by the British government.
Northern Rock’s stock on loan, a figure often used as an indicator of short selling, was more than four times higher than the average for benchmark FTSE 100 companies in September, according to the U.K. settlement agency CrestCo. It reached 22.5 percent of shares for Northern Rock, compared with the average share lending of 5.2 percent, the data show.
“Everybody was at it because it was just so easy,” said Simon Cawkwell, a former accountant and investor who wrote “Evil’s Good,” a guide to short-selling. “I’d say it was shooting fish in a barrel, but it was easier than that. It was just pulling the trigger.”
