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Looks like this poor SOB got wasted, betting the house shorting VW. Could he - and not the dozens of hedge funds and prop desks that probably also took their share of losses - be the single biggest victim of the VW squeeze?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...K9qQ&refer=home
Billionaire Merckle Said to Seek Aid After Volkswagen Squeeze
By Angela Cullen, Aaron Kirchfeld and Sheenagh Matthews
Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's billionaire Merckle family is seeking to prop up an investment company battered by wrong- way bets on Volkswagen AG shares and plunging stock markets, three people familiar with the situation said.
A group of more than three-dozen banks, including Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, are trying to reach an agreement on a loan to aid the Merckle's closely-held VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH, based in Dresden, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
A failure could have repercussions for Merckle's holdings, which span as many as 30 companies in the cement, machinery and pharmaceutical industries, said the people. The group of banks signed a so-called standstill agreement that blocks them from making claims on outstanding loans as they try to hammer out a rescue, according to one of the people.
``The banks would be better off to bail out the company than let it run into the ground,'' said Stefan Mueller, managing partner at Proprietary Partners AG in Frankfurt. ``But it's difficult for banks to reach financing agreements in the current environment. A lot of people have lost money in the stock market, including on Volkswagen.''
The banks, which also include state-owned Landesbank Baden- Wuerttemberg and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, may agree on a bridge loan by early next week to avoid a potential collapse, the people said.
Forbes List
Adolf Merckle, 74, whose estimated $9.2 billion fortune put him 94th on Forbes' list of the world's richest people this year, may be forced to sell his Ulm, Germany-based generic-drug company Ratiopharm GmbH and other assets, said the people. VEM also owns about 25 percent of HeidelbergCement AG, Germany's biggest cement maker.
Spokesmen for Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, Germany's largest banks, RBS of Edinburgh and Stuttgart-based LBBW declined to comment. Merckle and Susanne Friess, VEM's managing director, didn't return calls seeking comment. No one replied to a message left on a VEM answering machine requesting comment.
VEM became caught in a so-called short squeeze after betting Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen's stock would fall, according to the people. Porsche SE's Oct. 26 announcement that it planned to increase its stake in Volkswagen to 75 percent sparked a race by short-sellers to buy from a shrinking pool of stock, causing Volkswagen shares to surge more than fourfold in two days.
``Volkswagen was a large trade gone wrong for many,'' said Lawrence Peterman, investment director at Eden Financial Ltd. in London.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...K9qQ&refer=home
Billionaire Merckle Said to Seek Aid After Volkswagen Squeeze
By Angela Cullen, Aaron Kirchfeld and Sheenagh Matthews
Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's billionaire Merckle family is seeking to prop up an investment company battered by wrong- way bets on Volkswagen AG shares and plunging stock markets, three people familiar with the situation said.
A group of more than three-dozen banks, including Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, are trying to reach an agreement on a loan to aid the Merckle's closely-held VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH, based in Dresden, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
A failure could have repercussions for Merckle's holdings, which span as many as 30 companies in the cement, machinery and pharmaceutical industries, said the people. The group of banks signed a so-called standstill agreement that blocks them from making claims on outstanding loans as they try to hammer out a rescue, according to one of the people.
``The banks would be better off to bail out the company than let it run into the ground,'' said Stefan Mueller, managing partner at Proprietary Partners AG in Frankfurt. ``But it's difficult for banks to reach financing agreements in the current environment. A lot of people have lost money in the stock market, including on Volkswagen.''
The banks, which also include state-owned Landesbank Baden- Wuerttemberg and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, may agree on a bridge loan by early next week to avoid a potential collapse, the people said.
Forbes List
Adolf Merckle, 74, whose estimated $9.2 billion fortune put him 94th on Forbes' list of the world's richest people this year, may be forced to sell his Ulm, Germany-based generic-drug company Ratiopharm GmbH and other assets, said the people. VEM also owns about 25 percent of HeidelbergCement AG, Germany's biggest cement maker.
Spokesmen for Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, Germany's largest banks, RBS of Edinburgh and Stuttgart-based LBBW declined to comment. Merckle and Susanne Friess, VEM's managing director, didn't return calls seeking comment. No one replied to a message left on a VEM answering machine requesting comment.
VEM became caught in a so-called short squeeze after betting Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen's stock would fall, according to the people. Porsche SE's Oct. 26 announcement that it planned to increase its stake in Volkswagen to 75 percent sparked a race by short-sellers to buy from a shrinking pool of stock, causing Volkswagen shares to surge more than fourfold in two days.
``Volkswagen was a large trade gone wrong for many,'' said Lawrence Peterman, investment director at Eden Financial Ltd. in London.
