The founders of short selling firms Gotham City Research and Portsea Asset Management are joining forces to set up a new hedge fund, in a bet that rising interest rates will provide opportunities for short outfits.
Dan Yu, founder of Gotham, and Cyrus De Weck, the founder of Portsea, plan to launch General Industrial Partners early next year, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Yu’s Gotham made successful short bets on companies like Let’s Gowex, Wirecard and Steinhoff International, after revelations about accounting fraud led to a collapse of their stocks. Portsea’s profitable short wagers include London-listed NMC Health and South African retail group Steinhoff.
The new firm will hold a portfolio of 15 to 20 short positions, which will be hedged by a basket of long stocks or indices. The duo may also use a separate vehicle to take a concentrated short bet on a company they believe is a compelling target.
“There is a generation of market participants who, following 14 years of QE [quantitative easing], are ill-equipped to handle the QT [quantitative tightening] transition,” General Industrial Partners wrote in a presentation to potential investors seen by the newspaper.
It’s understood the fund will only charge fees if it is profitable. Should it lose money for investors, Yu and De Weck will not be paid salaries. Most of their bets will be kept private, with the new fund planning to go public with only a small number of their short positions.