Royal Imtech a Hedge Fund Favorite Short, Down 17% Today

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Hedge funds have made ROYAL IMTECH N.V. EO -,80 (FRA:IR3A) their favorite short bet in Netherland’s equities, the aggregate short interest exceeds 9 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.

Dan Loeb’s Third Point initiated a 0.8 percent position in ROYAL IMTECH N.V. EO -,80 (FRA:IR3A) back in December which was covered slightly to 0.7 percent in this month. In trading today, Royal Imtech declined more than 17 percent  after news broke that the company will take $654 million in writedowns from Poland and Germany and will also conduct a rights offering to cut costs and reduce debt.

Royal Imtech has been troubled for some time now. The company slashed its earnings guidance for 2015 and is undergoing restructuring to stabilize losses incurred from its foreign ventures. Royal Imtech, which provides digital services, is most notable for providing the stadium infrastructure in last year’s London Olympics.

Other big players with a short disclosure in the ROYAL IMTECH N.V. EO -,80 (FRA:IR3A) are Lansdowne Partners, AQR Capital and Marshall Wace. The largest single bet is held by Morton Holdings; the firm is shorting 3.23 percent of Royal Imtech as of Feb 4. For full information about each hedge fund’s position in Royal Imtech and other Dutch equities, visit our page for Hedge Fund Short Positions In Europe.

Other Dutch equities that have gained investor interest are Aperam (PINK:APEMY), Adage Capital has a short position of 3.2 percent in the company. SNS Reaal NV (AMS:SR) is a short bet of GLG Partners, TT International Limited (SGX:T09), BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) and Oceanwood Capital. GLG Partners has the largest position that amounts to 3.8 percent of the company.

Dutch telecom company Koninklijke KPN N.V. (PINK:KKPNY) (AMS:KPN) is also a short bet of some hedge funds including, GLG Partners, Marshall Wace and Arrowgrass Capital. While Arrograss just disclosed the short on Feb 22, GLG and Marshall Wace have been increasing their short stake in Koninklijke KPN N.V. (PINK:KKPNY) (AMS:KPN) throughout February.

Paul Singer’s Elliott Management has maintained a short bet of 1.42 percent in AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. (AMS:AMG) since November. Highbridge Capital has a 0.73 percent position while Oxford Asset Management is shorting 0.78 percent of AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. (AMS:AMG).

Another favorite short in Netherlands is TomTom NV (AMS:TOM2); however, there has not been any recent activity in this position which is held by Marble Arch, Discovery Capital and others.

ASM International NV (NASDAQ:ASMI) (AMS:ASM) was also a popular short bet in 2012, however most of the hedgers covered their positions in November. Highbridge Capital reduced its position in ASM International NV (NASDAQ:ASMI) (AMS:ASM) to less than 0.5 percent on Feb 25. There have been no new disclosures in the past two months.

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