First Steinhoff, now Aspen - understanding the Viceroy Effect

It’s now common cause that the report circulated by Viceroy Research brought down the 90 000 employee-strong Steinhoff. The report exposed the accounting irregularities which Steinhoff eventually owned up to. Viceroy, a shadowy firm with just three full time employees but an army of followers, has another South African company in its sights. On Tuesday, its Twitter account that has just over 5 000 followers said the Viceroy report on this company would be released before the end of March. On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Mr Market went crazy. Speculation that it was Viceroy’s target smashed the prices of multinational Aspen Pharmacare and three JSE-listed property stocks. In today’s episode of the Old Firm, David Shapiro and I examine what’s become known among traders as The Viceroy Effect.