嘉汉林业被指欺诈，拥趸不惜造假回击
保尔森之痛
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保尔森旗下基金本周提交文件称，已沽清过去3年多购入的嘉汉林业股票（Sino-Forest），产生损失估计7亿美元。嘉汉林业今年以来股价已暴跌91%，下跌主要出现在沽空者市场研究公司Muddy Waters Research的卡森•布劳克发布报告称其存在账目造假行为之后。 保尔森接受彭博社(Bloomberg)采访时称，他沽清该股是“因为嘉汉林业的公开披露和财务报表存在不确定性。”嘉汉林业已经指定了一个独立委员会对Muddy Waters的指控进行调查，但该公司对事实缺乏严谨的态度，这一点目前看来已经没有什么疑问。 此次投资巨亏令保尔森名誉受损。保尔森在房地产泡沫时期曾通过逆向操作获利数十亿美元，但此后的投资战绩却好坏参半。随着他押注美国经济复苏的银行股股价下跌，他旗下的基金也出现了亏损。 由于今年所投资公司被曝造假，不少投资中国反向收购概念股的人同样出现了亏损，但他们中的一些人对待亏损的态度远不如保尔森成熟。 比如，周二就有跳梁小丑发布了一份虚假的新闻稿，称美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)已经起诉布劳克和Muddy Waters，理由是他们操纵了嘉汉林业、多元环球水务（Duoyuan Water）和东方纸业（Orient Paper）的股价。 这篇新闻稿显然是个恶作剧，通篇充斥着毫无事实根据的指控以及拙劣的语法和拼写错误。尽管如此，基金专业博客Zero Hedge仍然选登了这篇稿件，大肆宣扬称在“共产主义美国”，证券监管部门起诉的是曝光造假的人，而不是造假者。对冲基金度日艰难。 美国证券交易委员会拒绝置评，发布这一稿件的Briefing Wire网站也没有回复寻求置评的电子邮件。常驻香港的布劳克发表个人声明称，Briefing Wire网站已经“同意撤除诽谤性的报道。” 虽然这宗恶作剧显然吸引了一些关注，但它并未收到作者的预期效果，没有推动相关股票上涨(也没有令布劳克蒙受损失)：东方纸业在早间交易中跌1%，嘉汉林业大跌21%。 |
Paulson's fund filed this week to say it sold all the shares of Sino-Forest (SNOFF) it has bought over the past three-plus years, booking a loss estimated at $700 million. The stock has plunged 91% this year, mostly after a short-seller, Carson Block of Muddy Waters Research, published a report contending the company's books were cooked. Paulson told Bloomberg he sold the stock "due to the uncertainty over Sino-Forest's public disclosures and financial statements." The company has appointed an independent commission to check the Muddy Waters claims, though there seems to be little doubt that the company has been playing fast and loose with the facts. The loss is a black eye for Paulson, who made billions betting against the housing market during the bubble but has since had mixed results. His funds have been losing money as his wager on a U.S. recovery, via bank stocks, has gone into the red. But many others have lost money in the Chinese reverse merger stocks that have been exposed as frauds this year, and you get the idea that some of them aren't taking those losses as maturely as Paulson seems to be. For instance, some wag on Tuesday published a fake press release purporting to announce a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Block and Muddy Waters, claiming they manipulated the shares of Sino-Forest, Duoyuan Water (DGW) and Orient Paper (ONP). The release was obviously a hoax, full of unsubstantiated claims and amateurish grammar and punctuation errors. But that didn't stop it from getting picked up on the Zero Hedge blog, which naturally ran with the idea that in "Communist Amerika" the securities regulators sue the guy who exposes the fraud, not the actual fraudster. Life is hard at the hedge funds. The SEC declined to comment and BriefingWire didn't return an email seeking comment. Block, who lives in Hong Kong, issued his own statement saying Briefing Wire had "agreed to remove the libelous submission." Though the hoax obviously getting some attention, it didn't succeed in the way you might assume its authors intended, by causing the mentioned stocks to rise (and presumably saddle Block with losses): Orient Paper shares fell 1% in early trading and Sino-Forest tumbled 21%. |
