Finance:Viceroy Research

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Short description: Investigative financial research group

Viceroy Research LLC is an international investigative financial research group registered in Delaware, United States. It was founded by a British short seller Fraser John Perring together with Australian partners Aiden Lau and Gabriel Bernarde in 2016. Perring and Viceroy have stirred considerable media interest because of their reports on firms like Wirecard. Of late, Viceroy has been known to bet against companies like Tesla, or Grenke.[1][2][3][4][5]

In 2021, the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has fined Viceroy R50 million for damaging remarks that the short-selling firm made about South Africa's Capitec Bank.[6]

In October 2021, it issued a damning report against Adler Real Estate for inflated valuations and undisclosed related party deals.[7] KPMG probed the allegations and cleared the company of systemic fraud, but was unable to refute all the claims. In May 2022, KPMG quit its contract. Adler eventually was unable to repay its debt. In April 2023, it won approval in court, against the opposition of some bondholders, to suspend coupon payments and extend maturities of bonds due in 2024.[8][9]

In July 2023, Fraser John Perring reacted angrily to suggestions by an unknown tabloid newspaper that his support for "gay/queer charity" was "because I am secretly gay." Fraser threatened to "fucking destroy" anyone who repeated these allegations.[10]

List of short attack reports

The following table displays the companies Viceroy Research has published reports about.[11][12]

Target Ticker First report Last report Number of reports
Hexagon 2023-7-19 2023-7-29 3
Abalance TYO: 38560 2023-5-16 2023-5-16 3
Medical Properties Trust NYSE: MPW 2023-1-26 2023-3-17 15
Samhällsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden 2022-2-21 2022-12-9 9
Home REIT LSE: [Script error: No such module "Stock tickers/LSE". HOME] 2022-11-23 2022-11-30 2
Truecaller 2022-9-28 2022-10-5 3
Adler Group Template:Fwb 2021-10-6 2022-5-3 5
SANT XTRA:SANT 2021-12-16 2022-1-25 2
Pagseguro NYSE: PAGS 2021-10-27 2021-10-27 1
Reconnaissance Energy Africa 2021-6-24 2021-9-7 8
Tyro ASX:TYR 2021-1-14 2021-1-19 3
Wirecard (note: as Zatarra) n/a: 2020-7-3 2020-11-6 2
Grenke AG VIE:GLJ 2020-9-15 2020-10-22 9
Sorrento Therapeutics NASDAQ: SRNEQ 2020-5-20 2020-5-20 1
Athenex NASDAQ: ATNXQ 2019-10-22 2019-11-20 10
Pareteum NASDAQ: TEUM 2018-9-6 2019-7-17 9
Ebix NASDAQ: EBIX 2018-12-3 2019-7-1 7
MiMedx NASDAQ: MDXG 2017-9-20 2019-6-17 28
NEPI Rockcastle
  1. REDIRECT Template:Johannesburg Stock Exchange
 2018-11-28 2018-12-6 3
Capitec
  1. REDIRECT Template:Johannesburg Stock Exchange
 2018-1-30 2018-7-12 7
AMD NASDAQ: AMD 2018-3-13 2018-3-22 2
ProSieben Template:Fwb 2018-3-6 2018-3-6 1
Steinhoff ETR
  1. REDIRECT Template:Johannesburg Stock Exchange
 2017-12-6 2017-12-6 1
Neuroderm NASDAQ: NDRM 2017-8-30 2017-9-6 4
Caesarstone NASDAQ: CSTE 2017-6-14 2017-8-1 2
Quintis ASXL:QIN 2017-5-14 2017-5-14 1
Syrah Resources ASX:SYR 2016-12-23 2016-12-23 1

Controversies

Allegations

  • On 16 March 2023, a question was raised in the UK's House of Commons by Liam Byrne MP about Viceroy Research involvement in a short-selling attack on Babcock International (involved with build and maintenance of UK's nuclear submarines) and Fraser John Perring's links and frequent trips to Moscow:

  • "Can we have a debate in Government time on the activities of short-selling attack group Viceroy Research and its leader Fraser Perring? I am told that it is working hand in glove with Boatman Capital, which launched the short-selling attack on Babcock International while it was overhauling our nuclear submarines. Mr Perring is a not infrequent visitor to Moscow, and is now targeting Home REIT, which provides homelessness services, including to homeless veterans. We must ensure that short-selling groups are not another weapon in Putin's arsenal. Where there are links between short-selling attack groups and the Kremlin, we need to know." [13]

  • In 2022, allegations were made against Viceroy Research as part of continued investigations into Viceroy's short attack against Capitec (for which Viceroy had already been fined for misleading reports) that Viceroy was paid R10M for production of its reports into Capitec.[14]


Legal cases

  • Medical Properties Trust, Inc. v. Viceroy Research LLC (2023): MPT filed a lawsuit against Viceroy Research in federal court, alleging that Viceroy had defamed the company by publishing false and misleading statements about its business practices.[15] In June 2023, Medical Properties Trust won a preliminary ruling in its defamation lawsuit over an alleged “short and distort” scheme by Viceroy Research.[16]

Regulatory investigations and fines

  • In 2022, the FCA in the United Kingdom opened questions into Viceroy Research's relationship with Cayman Island hedge fund Oasis Management with regards to collusion and insider trading.[17]
  • In 2021, the South African FSCA fined Viceroy Research R50M for false and misleading statements about the company Capitec in Viceroy's 2018 reports which caused a 23% share price drop.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Research". 2021-01-22. https://viceroyresearch.org/research/. 
  2. ↑ "Short Seller Who Bet Against Wirecard Wagers Tesla Is Overpriced". 2022-01-05. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-05/short-seller-who-bet-against-wirecard-wagers-tesla-is-overpriced. "Fraser Perring says EV maker is overvalued by factor of 10; Size of short bet against Tesla is about 5% of his portfolio" 
  3. ↑ "Research Report 2018 - INVESTMENT RESEARCH IN THE ERA OF FAKE NEWS - A study of activist short selling and Viceroy Research". 2018. https://www.intellidex.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Intellidex-Report_Investment-Research-in-the-Era-of-Fake-News.pdf. 
  4. ↑ "Fraser Perring: Die belgische Holding Sofina ist sein nächstes Ziel" (in de). 2022-05-25. https://www.capital.de/geld-versicherungen/fraser-perring--die-belgische-holding-sofina-ist-sein-naechstes-ziel-31873386.html. 
  5. ↑ Raghavan, Anita (15 August 2021). "The Short Seller Who Took On Wirecard Is Aiming for a Bigger Target". Barron's. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211202085525/https://www.barrons.com/articles/short-seller-wirecard-viceroy-research-fraser-perring-51628868117. 
  6. ↑ Buthelezi, Londiwe (2021-09-08). "Regulator fines Viceroy R50m for falsely accusing Capitec of being a 'loan shark'". https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/regulator-fines-viceroy-r50m-for-falsely-accusing-capitec-of-being-a-loan-shark-20210908. 
  7. ↑ "Adler Group – Bond Villains". 2021-10-06. https://viceroyresearch.org/2021/10/06/adler-group-bond-villains/. 
  8. ↑ "Adler Says It Can Restructure Debt Despite Investor Resistance". 2022-12-09. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-09/adler-says-it-can-restructure-debt-despite-investor-resistance. 
  9. ↑ "Adler Wins Restructuring Approval Despite Creditor Opposition". 2023-04-12. https://blinks.bloomberg.com/news/stories/RSZXARDWLU6A. 
  10. ↑ Fraser Perring - Grand Poobah of “criminal” shorts. "@AIM Honesty" (in en). Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230714114856/https://twitter.com/AIMhonesty/status/1678839307899904001?s=20. 
  11. ↑ "Viceroy Research | A group of individuals that see the world differently." (in en-US). 2023-05-18. https://viceroyresearch.org/. 
  12. ↑ "Short seller fact checker - Viceroy Research" (in en-US). https://sites.google.com/view/shortsellerfactchecker/activist-investors/viceroy-research. 
  13. ↑ "Hansard - Oral Answers to Questions". https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-03-16/debates/1838e841-5fe1-4017-bdcf-027d6f6ca8e3/CommonsChamber#contribution-FF8CC71B-03BC-4DF4-A6A2-A4CD61B8C7E8. 
  14. ↑ Adriaan Kruger (2022-11-18). "Viceroy was paid R10m for its hatchet job on Capitec" (in en). Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221117235825/https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/companies-and-deals/viceroy-was-paid-r10m-for-its-hatchet-job-on-capitec/. 
  15. ↑ "Medical Properties Trust Files Lawsuit Against Short-Seller Viceroy Research and Its Members, Sends Letter to Shareholders" (in en). 2023-03-30. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230330005757/en/Medical-Properties-Trust-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Short-Seller-Viceroy-Research-and-Its-Members-Sends-Letter-to-Shareholders. 
  16. ↑ "Medical Properties Defamation Case Against Short Seller Advances" (in en). https://news.bloomberglaw.com/e-discovery-and-legal-tech/medical-properties-defamation-case-against-short-seller-advances. 
  17. ↑ Lumsden, Gavin (Nov 30, 2022). "Questions for Viceroy on its link to hedge fund Oasis" (in en). https://citywire.com/investment-trust-insider/news/questions-for-viceroy-on-its-link-to-hedge-fund-oasis/a2403840. 
  18. ↑ Ciaran Ryan (2021-09-08). "FSCA hits Viceroy with R50m penalty for false, misleading statements on Capitec" (in en). Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210910071119/https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/companies-and-deals/fsca-hits-viceroy-with-r50m-penalty-for-false-misleading-statements-on-capitec/. 

External links




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