Solo Capital to close amid reports of Danish probe
LONDON, November 27, 2015
Solo Capital Partners, a hedge fund with offices in London and Dubai, is to be closed down, according to a statement on the firm’s website, amid reports of a probe into its activities by Danish prosecutors.
Solo Capital is in “the process of an orderly wind-down and isn’t taking on any new business,” the London-based fund said on its website, without giving further details, said a report in BloomBerg Business.
Danish prosecutors investigating trades they allege defrauded the government of about 6.2 billion kroner ($880 million) in withholding tax refunds were fradulendly claimed by a network of foreign companies on non-existent shareholding, said a report earlier this month on the Wall Street Jornal.
Denmark’s Serious Fraud Office had zeroed in on trade by a small London hedge fund and other firms operating in the UK, it said.
Solo Capital Partners was named as one of the firms being probed by the country’s prosecutors, while none of the accused companies or individuals have so far been named by Danish authorities.
Solo was started in 2009 by Sanjay Shah, a 45-year-old British financier who now primarily lives in Dubai, according to people who know him.
UK financial-crime and regulatory authorities raided Solo’s London offices earlier this month, people familiar with the investigation said.
Authorities also questioned London brokerage firm Arian Financial, which handles trades for Solo, the people said.
John Meadows, Arian’s chief executive officer, said via electronic message, that Arian is not the subject of any investigation and “complies with all its regulatory obligations and will continue to do so.”
Traders, brokers and lawyers familiar with Solo’s business said the firm, out of its London and Dubai offices, has been a prominent player in the market for Danish dividend-tax trades like those described as being at the centre of the Danish government’s focus, the report added.
