- It’s First Republic, PacWest and Western Alliance
- Investor believes the U.S. will soon experience a recession
Famous financier Michael Berry bought large stakes in regional U.S. banks earlier this year.
Among other things, he bought the bankrupt First Republic before the brand was taken over by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Michael Berry famously became the prototype of the main character in the movie “The Lowdown Game.. He once predicted the global crisis of 2008.
Businessman owns the hedge fund Scion Asset Management.. It was this fund bought shares of troubled banks in Q1. This follows a report filed with the regulator.
A total of 150,000 shares of First Republic stock were purchased by Scion for a total value of about $2 million.
Recall that the securities of the bank fell by 97%, after which the company went bankrupt and was taken over by the U.S. regulator.
Then they negotiated with JPMorgan and “persuaded” the banking giant to buy First Republic. We wrote more about this controversial deal here.
In addition to investing in First Republic, Scion bought up the securities of several other troubled banks. Among other things – 250,000 shares of PacWest Bancorp.
This brand also suffered from the panic, its shares fell by 79%. The Berry fund also bought 125,000 shares of Western Alliance Bancorp. Its quotes didn’t drop that much, “only” 48%.
In a recent interview, Michael Berry predicted another rise in inflation. He thinks the U.S. is already in a recession.