The man behind Muddy Waters, a scourge of listed Chinese companies
CARSON BLOCK isn’t the obvious candidate to show up John Paulson, a hedge-fund star who oversees $37 billion in assets. Mr Block is 35 years old. His previous business ventures include a Shanghai storage company called Love Box Self Storage. He co-authored a book called “Doing Business in China for Dummies”. Muddy Waters Research, his latest firm, has been around for only 12 months.
Most people on Wall Street hadn’t heard of him until last month, when he released a report accusing Sino-Forest, a Chinese forest-plantation operator listed in Canada, of overstating its timber holdings. Spooked investors sold the stock, which plunged by 78% in a matter of days, dealing Mr Paulson, Sino-Forest’s largest shareholder, around $110m in net losses after he dumped all his shares. ...
