Enemy of the State?

August 2009

"Nevertheless it features one of the most formidable new buildings that I have ever come across. I would estimate the build cost must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And it wasn't located in Hong Kong or even Shanghai or Shenzhen, but in the decidedly less glamorous Wuhan in the centre of the country. And to make matters worse it was completely empty..."

"I learned recently that the building now has a tenant, the $20bn Minsheng Bank, but I suspect they lent the money to the developer in the first place."

"Adding to the intrigue, I have subsequently been informed that our video has now been blocked in China by the authorities. Who would have thought that I would become an enemy of the state?"


We read regularly in the media about how hedge fund managers are the bad guys always looking to make a profit. I would argue that in most cases these same managers are simply correcting (exploiting) certain market inefficiencies or simply going against the herd. Examples would include Mr. Chanos and Enron and this manager asking some basic questions.

The real question should be to ask other managers why they are not asking similar questions?