Opportunistic funds launch a major offensive against Spanish energy companies

On the 11th, 12th and 13th of this month, when the market was still digesting shock belonging breakdown of Taqa’s negotiations on a takeover bid for Naturgy, Another earthquake occurred in the back room of the sector.

Numerous Opportunistic funds began a flurry of moves to take positions in other energy companies.

Citadel Advisors entered into Grenergy, the day after JPMorgan Asset Management move positions within the same renewable energy company.

In parallel, The Citadel also made a move in Solaria, Grenergy’s competitor, just like them Cubist Systematic Strategies, Marble Bar Asset Management and Qube Research and Technology.

The avalanche of “tactical” purchases and sales or short positions continued Activate energywhere did he move his token AQR Capital ManagementAnd Enagasat the expense of funds Item 72 Europe and Ballast Asset Management.

Thus, we can list another series of operations of this kind of structures, which in recent weeks have turned the energy sector into a favorite target of their strikes.

More than half of the transactions on the Spanish stock market over the past two months came from energy companies.. If the time frame is narrowed to the last two weeks, the proportion rises to eight out of ten.

Looking for events

What’s happening? These types of organizations, usually called opportunistic funds, They sense what are known in the industry as disruptive “events” or significant impacts on the value of companies on the stock market.

Thus funds with a short position or short sellers, They play to anticipate this volatility using various formulas. One of them is to borrow securities in order to quickly sell them.thereby causing sudden drops in stockswhich they then buy back at a lower price to return to the person who lent it.

New photo

The movements of the last two months have changed the picture short sellers on the Spanish stock market. New ones have appeared(Baluster or AQR) and others attacked some companies (Citadel) or diversified into others (BlackRock).

In practice these movements an exact replica of the extent of change that a particular company or sector has undergone.

Activate energylowered its profit forecast. Enagas awaits international decision on Peru less favorable than expected. The drums don’t stop on Solaria.

Although Grenergy tracks your results, Conditions for financing the development of new renewable energy sources have tightened to unpredictable limits for your accounts. Audax tries to get out of financial situation it almost took him over a year ago. AND Soltec had to present new accounts with multimillion-dollar losses and is now seeking to renew its short-term financing.

breeding place

Thanks to this breeding ground, the energy market has become fertile ground for facilitating movement short sellers. Hence its growing prominence among companies in this sector.

According to data extracted from the files of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), updated as of last Friday, One out of every three euros that short-term funds move on the Spanish stock market these days is in energy. In particular, Acciona Energía, Enagás, Solaria, Grenergy, Audax and Soltec have 510 million euros out of a total of 1.550 million.

Solaria and Enagas

The most affected group at the moment is solarium, who has been most persecuted for many years short sellers. General They control just over 12% of capital. In terms of market value, this percentage amounts to a total of 170 million euros. Last Friday, rumors of a possible takeover of Solaria, an assumption that has been constant for several months. Especially after BNP Paribas Exane’s quarterly investor survey published a year ago, in which the company pointed to Solaria as the most viable energy company in Europe with a probability of 50%, which is much higher than other companies such as Central

(21%) or Naturgy (7%).

By capitalization volume, Enagás is the second most attacked energy company To short sellerswith 198 million, although together they control only a little over 5%.

Acciona Energia and Audax

Activate energywhich was not previously at the top of the list of most shorted companies, is now the third-largest energy company by investment volume with almost 90 million, although its size makes it only 1.2% of capital.

The most unique case is the case Audax. Until a few months ago, it was one of the energy companies that suffered the most from harassment from short-term supporters, at times even surpassing Solaria. But at the beginning of the year he undertook a complex debt-to-equity conversion operation that opened an exit window for short-term backers like Citadel. Since then, Audax has only experienced pressure from short sellers only 2% of capital, that is, half of what he received in January.

Soltek and Grenergy

SoltekThe US Bank, which managed to extend its debt maturities until September as a last resort, is the latest to be targeted by the bears.

Citadel entered with 0.6% after an investment of just over a million euros. The Citadel also appeared in Grenergy from 0.5%.