These Trades Are the Winners and Losers From Brexit Vote Shock

(Bloomberg) -- Markets were roiled after U.K. voters decided to quit the European Union. Yet even in the chaos, some trades paid off.

No company on the FTSE 100 was hit harder by the news than U.K. homebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc: shares fell 29 percent Friday because of concern that demand for home-buying will slow. UBS Group AG’s stake -- which typically represents holdings on behalf of clients -- increased to 2.5 percent as of June 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from a regulatory filing. Credit Suisse Group AG’s ownership, also typically held for clients, almost halved to 0.5 percent. Holdings are as of the latest regulatory filings.

British American Tobacco Plc jumped 2.6 percent on the day, even as the FTSE 100 Index fell, bringing gains for the year to 16 percent. Los Angeles-based fund company Capital Group boosted its stake in the cigarette maker during 2016 by about 24 million shares, making it the company’s second-largest owner with 5.6 percent, according to May regulatory disclosures.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc sank 18 percent amid expectations of eroding profits for domestic-focused U.K. banks. Artisan Partners Ltd., with a 2.8 percent position after boosting its stake as of June 13, is the biggest holder outside of the U.K. government.

SPDR Gold Shares, which tracks the price of bullion, spiked 4.8 percent as the metal rallied. Among the beneficiaries was Eton Park Capital Management, which bought 1.2 percent of the exchange-traded fund in the first quarter. Eric Mindich’s hedge fund firm had sold out of its holding in the ETF in 2012, when bullion was trading near its all-time high. John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. owned about 1.6 percent of Gold Shares as of March 31 after disclosing it had trimmed its stake in the first quarter.

Capital Group and Eton Park declined to comment. Representatives of the other investment firms didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brandon Kochkodin in New York at bkochkodin@bloomberg.net, Caleb Melby in New York at cmelby@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brandon Kochkodin at bkochkodin@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Alan Goldstein