(Reuters) – Large block deals on Friday that sparked a wave of sales in a group of companies were driven by sales of more than $ 10 billion conducted by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the media reported on Saturday.
Shares of ViacomCBS and Discovery each plummeted about 27% on Friday, while US-listed shares of China-based Baidu and Tencent Music plummeted during the week, dropping 33.5% and 48.5% respectively from closing levels of Tuesday.
Eric Handler of MKM Partners, who covers Discovery, said on Friday that large blocks of shares in both Viacom and Discovery companies were launched on Friday, likely exacerbating the declines.
An email to customers seen by Bloomberg News said Goldman had sold $ 6.6 billion worth of shares of Baidu Inc, Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Vipshop Holdings Ltd before opening the U.S. market on Friday, the report said. on Saturday. bloom.bg/3lYOrZm
Following this, Goldman sold $ 3.9 billion worth of shares in ViacomCBS Inc, Discovery Inc, Farfetch Ltd, iQIYI Inc and GSX Techedu Inc.
A source familiar with the case said on Saturday that Goldman was involved in the big block trade.
Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
The Financial Times reported that Morgan Stanley had sold $ 4 billion worth of stock earlier in the day, followed by another $ 4 billion in the afternoon.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The Financial Times reported that Goldman had told counterparties that the sales were motivated by “forced deleveraging,” citing knowledgeable people.
CNBC reported here that the selling pressure was due to the liquidation of positions by family office Archegos Capital Management, citing a source with direct knowledge of the situation. A person at Archegos who answered the phone declined to comment.
Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ken Li, Megan Davies, and Sinead Carew; Edited by Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis