Wilson’s firm could have made about $28 million overnight, according to a person familiar with the matter. But it didn’t.
The BTG fund, for which Wilson no longer works, saw its assets drop to about $250 million in February from more than $4 billion in November as investors pulled money following the arrest of BTG Pactual’s billionaire founder Andre Esteves. He was accused of trying to obstruct a corruption investigation, which he denied, and was later released.
In the upheaval, Wilson had to dump the trade to return investors’ cash.
Still, in some cases, and with a bit of luck, there was money to be made.
Take Daniel Gish of Chicago-based Balyasny Asset Management LP who also shorted Novo Banco’s senior bonds. He kept its position open through Dec. 29, netting the firm a $15 million profit, according to two people familiar with the matter. Gish declined to comment and an official for Balyasny didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Dodson still gets a certain satisfaction from being right even if the trade was unwound.
“No-one was pushing the bear case because they were all long the bonds,” he said. “I wasn’t quiet about my position because I wanted to make the case no one else would, and it was nice to be vindicated.”