Lansdowne Partners and CQS Shorting French Stocks

The latest publication (AMF) of the short positions for UNIBAIL-RODAMCO SE (French-Dutch Company, the largest commercial real estate company in Europe) shows that Lansdowne UK equity Fund Limited gradually reduced its short position in Unibail-Rodamco to less than 0.5 % of issued share capital on Aug 29^th by moving from a net short position of 1.366% of outstanding shares on Aug 18^th.

The detailed transactions of Lansdowne UK equity Fund Limited’s on UNIBAIL-RODAMCO SE are below:

Net short position (%)     Date

< 0,5                                          29/08/2011

0.557                                         25/08/2011

0.832                                         23/08/2011

1.054                                         22/08/2011

1.194                                         19/08/2011

1.366                                         18/08/2011

CQS Also Shorting French Stocks

According to the latest publication of AMF, CQS Convertible and Quantitative Strategies Master Fund Limited reduced its short position in Faurecia by moving from a net short position of 0.682% of outstanding shares on Aug 16^th to 0.598% of outstanding shares on Aug 18^th and then finally to <0.5% on Aug 26^th. Faurecia is one of the world’s leading automotive parts and equipment manufacturer.

Also, CQS has been very active in Altran Technologies, SA by moving from a net short position of 1.681%  of outstanding shares on Aug 24^th to 1.24% of outstanding shares on August 25^th and then to 1.496% on Aug 26^th. Altran is a high technology and innovation consultancy firm.

It is interesting to see the trading patterns of these hedge funds. They make significant moves in either direction to conceal their intentions.