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As Soros Foresees Financial Crisis, Here Are His European Shorts

George Soros, who warned of a looming financial crisis, is shorting stocks across Europe.

As Soros Foresees Financial Crisis, Here Are His European Shorts
George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC. (Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire George Soros, who warned of a looming financial crisis and an existential threat to the European Union on Tuesday, is shorting stocks from Stockholm to London.

His family office has about $256 million in disclosed wagers against European companies, a bet hedge funds usually put on to benefit from declines to share prices, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Below are the top five short bets of Soros’s investment firm by market value.

CompanyMarket Value (USD, Millions)
Boliden -55.11
CYBG -30.18
Domino’s Pizza Group -22.63
Krones  -20.53
Aggreko -20.16

As political turmoil in Italy spread contagion through global markets, Soros counted the planned U.S. termination of the nuclear deal with Iran and what he called the “destruction” of the trans-Atlantic alliance between America and the EU among sources of dislocation.

As Italy approaches another election, concern that strengthened populist parties could take the country out of the euro sparked risk-off moves and a flight to safety worldwide on Tuesday. U.S. stock futures dropped alongside European equities and the euro, while Treasuries advanced with the dollar and yen.

For all data on short bets, click here.

Spokesmen for Boliden AB, CYBG Plc and Domino’s Pizza Group Plc declined to comment, while emails and calls to representatives of Soros, Krones and Aggreko remained unanswered. It’s not clear if the shorts in Europe are part of a wider positioning by the firm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Jon Menon

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.