Michael Burry, who famously shorted subprime mortgages during the 2008 financial crisis, is making a big new bet on regional banks.
His hedge fund Scion Asset Management loaded up on $23.4 million worth of bank stocks in the first quarter, according to filings. The positions include some of the same mid-sized institutions that came under intense investor pressure following the March failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Scion’s new holdings include $7.6 million in shares of New York Community Bank (NYCB), which purchased loans and assumed deposits from Signature, as well as $4.4 million in Western Alliance (WAL), $2.4 million in PacWest (PACW) and $2 million in San Francisco lender First Republic.
He also purchased $2 million of Huntington Bank (HBAN), a regional lender in Columbus, Ohio.
Not all of his buys were regionals. Scion also picked up $4.6 million in industry giant Wells Fargo (WFC).
One of the banks he bet on now has a new owner. Regulators seized First Republic…
This article was written by and originally published on finance.yahoo.com