Lansdowne Partners Losing In Short Bets In Financials

Lansdowne Partners usually does well in its short portfolio, at least better than most long/short equity hedge funds. However if the fund’s short book based in financials is seen separately, the returns are seriously lagging this year. It should be remembered that Lansdowne is one of those funds whose timely short bets in insurers and banks at the time of financial crisis in 2008 raked in big profits for the hedge fund. The firms bets against Barclays plc (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC), Bradford & Bingley and HBOS were executed over multiple years, and the fund patiently waited for the worst to happen. So…