Pego el artículo de FT sobre los de Gotham City Research, que,por cierto, tienen que estar contentísimos comprando a mansalva:
Who is Gotham City Research?
By Henry Mance
On Tuesday Gotham City Research published a scathing dossier on Quindell, the claims processor that was one of the best-performing stocks on London’s junior stock market.
The move wiped about £900m from Quindell’s market valuation, equivalent to about £12m for each of the dossier’s 74 pages.
Quindell, in turn, rejected the various allegations and threatened legal action.
So what is known about Gotham City?
1. It is a short selling group reportedly linked to Daniel Yu.
Gotham City’s dossier conceded that the writers would benefit from a fall in Quindell’s shares.
At least one report has connected the research organisation to Daniel Yu, who posts on Twitter under the handle @LongShortTrader.
“Someone who shorts something is not necessarily a shortseller,” @LongShortTrader wrote in March. “A shortseller is one who focuses on ‘frauds, fads and failures’.”
2. Gotham City started publishing research in February 2013.
Mr Yu has previously been a vocal critic of businesses such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. “At this point it’s not about the money,” he was quoted as saying in 2012. “I just want people to see what I’m seeing.”
On Green Mountain, Mr Yu may have followed other short-sellers.
But since last year detailed research has appeared on Gotham City’s website, with four targets – insurance software company Ebix (February to June 2013), retailer Tile Shop (November 2013), search platform Blucora (February 2014) and now Quindell.
3. It’s the Muddy Waters model – go short then go public.
Like Muddy Waters, the hedge fund of Carson Block, Gotham City’s tactic is to do the research, short the shares and then get as much publicity as possible.
Gotham City’s report on Quindell specifically compares the company to Sino-Forest, perhaps Muddy Waters’ most famous short to date.
Engaging with the target company is not a prerequisite.
Mr Block was accused of visiting one company in disguise. Quindell says Gotham City asked no questions of it before publishing.
4 . Over the medium term, the group’s record has been good.
Gotham City’s attack on Ebix belatedly yielded a big victory: Ebix’s shares fell 44 per cent in a day after Goldman Sachs pulled out of deal to buy the company. But the shares have gradually recovered.
Blucora and Tile Shop are still waiting to bounce back. Blucora’s shares fell 8 per cent on the day Gotham City published and are down about 20 per cent in total. Tile Shop’s shares fell near 39 per cent on the day and are still down nearly 30 per cent in total.
Gotham City is confident of its record.
“We find Quindell’s response (unsurprisingly) lacking in details,” it wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “We also find its response defamatory to the Gotham City brand.”
5. Quindell could be its biggest hit.
Shares in the claims processor closed down 39 per cent on Tuesday after Gotham City published its dossier, although they have recovered some in early Wednesday trading.
The sharp fall is likely to reflect the high level of retail investors, whose stop-loss orders are often triggered by a plunge in the share price, causing them to add to the selling.
The question now is whether such investors return to Quindell’s shares. That may depend on whether the promised entry to the FTSE 250 index – and possibly even FTSE 100 – emerges.
A prospectus was due to be published on Thursday.
Neither Mr Yu nor Gotham City could be reached for comment. Mr Yu has not previously denied reports that he is connected with Gotham. On Tuesday he retweeted Gotham’s research on Quindell shortly after its publication.
