Hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey cuts bet against Metro Bank

Hedge fund magnate Crispin Odey has cut his short position in Metro Bank, but is still not a fan.

The bank has been targeted by Odey for years for short selling – betting that the share price will fall – but recent filings show that he has halved his short position since December.

Odey told The Mail on Sunday that Metro Bank now has a relatively “insignificant” position in its portfolio because the shares are illiquid and the price is low.

His stake now stands at around 2 per cent of the available shares and is worth nearly £4 million, meaning he’s still the bank’s biggest short-seller.

Metro Bank has seen its stock price drop 97 percent over the past five years. The market value is now just £170 million. It has also posted losses totaling £627 million since 2020. Odey predicts that the bank could soon be taken over by a rival.

Metro Bank recently laid out plans for an orderly wind-down should it fail, to bring it in line with Britain’s big lenders.

It is one of the most thinly capitalized of the ‘challenger’ and specialist banks, EY consultants recently discovered.

Founded by American entrepreneur Vernon Hill in 2010, it became the first new high street bank in over a century to invest heavily in its branches.

A spokesman for Metro Bank said it is “profitable, well-capitalized and highly liquid, with a well-performing loan portfolio.”