Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Billionaire Ray Dalio is making his first big bets against European companies since 2018.
- Bridgewater made a more than $9.5 billion bet against Europe with short positions in more than a dozen of the continent's most well-known companies.
- Companies include banks like Spain-based Santander and BBVA, France's BNP and Societe Generale, and Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo, as well as consumer brands like Adidas, healthcare giants like Bayer, and dozens of others.
- Breakout Point, a German tracker of big short positions in Europe, said this is the first time Bridgewater has made a short this big in Europe since 2018.
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Bridgewater believes some of Europe's biggest names are set to fall.
As the coronavirus deadlocks countries like Italy, and is spreading quickly to countries like Spain, the world's biggest hedge fund has made bets against some of the continent's most well-known companies Tuesday.
Data from German short-selling tracker Breakout Point show that Bridgewater has made a combined bet of more than $9.5 billion that more than 30 companies are going to fall including: Adidas; Bayer; Allianz; BBVA; Santander; DHL; Mercedes Benz' parent company Daimler; SAP; Siemens; Intesa Sanpaolo; Munich Re; BASF; Telefonica; AXA; BNP Paribas; Societe Generale; and many more. Its biggest short-selling position was against German software conglomerate SAP at $750 million.
Companies based in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Finland were all targeted.
The bets show that Bridgewater believes Europe will fall across industries as the list includes the biggest banks in Italy and Spain, healthcare companies like Bayer, technology, utility, energy, and logistics companies in several different countries.
Breakout Point states this is the first time Bridgewater has made a short position in Europe that the firm was forced to disclose to regulators (more than 0.5% of a company's outstanding shares) since 2018, when it had a bet of more than $22 billion against several European companies. The firm at the time it was net "long" Europe, according to a story in Reuters, but the shorts were hedges.
Bridgewater then also made bets against Italian natural gas company ENEL, Italian bank Intesa, and German conglomerate Siemens.
The companies named either did not respond to request for comment or declined to comment. Bridgewater did not immediately return request for comment.