Financial Wizards Make Sainsbury’s Disappear

Financial wizards are pretty good at making crap housing loans into saleable asset backed securities, and saleable ABS’s into a multi-trillion dollar derivatives timebomb. But now they’ve gone one step further, and actually made 10.4 per cent of Sainsbury’s disappear! Wow. 

Apparently Robert Tchenguiz had the shares, and then suddenly … woosh:

“Robert Tchenguiz, the property tycoon, was forced to offload his shares in Sainsbury when the Treasury placed the British arm of Kaupthing into administration. The bank had financed Tchenguiz’s holding, which he controlled via ordinary shares and contracts for difference (CFDs).

Sainsbury’s is understood to be furious that it has not located the stock, the buyer of which does not have to announce the fact because much of it is held through CFDs, and is spending the weekend attempting to locate it.”

Woooosh!

Posted by Becky North in Hot Money | October 13, 2008 1:12AM |