By Sinéad Carew and Matt Scuffham
(Reuters) – Archegos Capital Management’s ill-fated bets weighed on ViacomCBS, Discovery Inc and other media stocks on Monday, and at least one analyst said it remained unclear when banks exposed to the troubled family office would be done selling off their positions in the shares.
Archegos, run by U.S. investor Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, was caught on the wrong side of debt-laden bets on the stocks of these companies last month, forcing several Wall Street banks that acted as brokers to sell shares in the companies.
Credit Suisse Group AG, which is expected to record billions of dollars in losses from its exposure to Archegos, is still unwinding its positions, a source familiar with the trades said on Monday. The bank declined to comment. Nomura, which has flagged a possible $2 billion loss, also declined to comment.
Other banks with exposure to Archegos, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank AG, have unwound their trades, according to sources with direct knowledge of the transactions.
ViacomCBS shares, which traded at a record of $101.97 in March, were down 2.8% at 43.40. Discovery last traded down 1.4% at $42.69 after hitting $78.14 last month. Shares of Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Farfetch also slid.
“It’s the uncertainty as to the magnitude of the unwind,” that’s weighing on the shares, said CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi, who has “Buy” ratings on both Discovery and Viacom.
(Reporting By Sinéad Carew and Matt Scuffham; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili, Kirsten Donovan)
