Muddy Waters Research | Due diligence-based equity research on Chinese companies

Block on Bloomberg Markets Discussing Latest Short, Burford Capital

Block on Bloomberg discussing MW's latest short, Burford Capital. Watch the full interview here… more

Doing the Work
Wall Street Won’t

Muddy Waters peels back the layers, often built up by seemingly respected but sycophantic law firms, auditors, and venal managements.

NMC Health plc

NMC: Undisclosed Share Pledges Intensify Questions About True Debt Levels (NMC.LN)

Yesterday NMC issued the latest in a series of confusing disclosures about its controlling shareholders’ ownership and pledges when it disclosed that 19.0 million of its shares are potentially subject to undisclosed share pledges. We note that the FCA has announced it is probing these misstatements… more

Burford Capital Ltd.

Burford: Horrible Second Half Results Validate our Thesis (BUR LN)

Burford’s abysmal second-half performance speaks to the company’s exaggerated marks, which are married to a flawed business model. Second half net realized gains were paltry, despite Burford seemingly having strong incentive to prove that it can monetize the investments on its ever-expanding balanc… more

NMC Health plc

MW is Short NMC Health plc (NMC.LN)

We are short NMC Health plc. We have serious doubts about the company’s financial statements, including its asset values, cash balance, reported profits, and reported debt levels. At the worst of times, the company has invested in large assets at costs that we find too high to be plausible – inclu… more

PeptiDream, Inc.

Muddy Waters is Short PeptiDream, Inc. (4587.JP)

When wooing retail investors, Chairman Kiichi Kubota likes to compare non-standard peptide drugs to a Jaguar sports coupe (while comparing other drug types to a dump truck and motor scooter). We believe this comparison would be more relevant to PeptiDream if the Jaguar were missing its wheels.… more

Burford Capital Ltd.

Burford: It Just Doesn’t Get Better (BUR LN)

Burford’s presentation on fair value accounting fails to address the key issues. This is typical Burford speak – to write so much, and yet say so little. The little substance there is supports our thesis about Burford’s valuation abuse. At the end of the day, as we have repeatedly stated, Burford… more

Burford Capital Ltd.

Burford: Was MW Wrong About Napo? (BUR LN)

No. Don’t be silly. We stated that beginning with BUR’s 2013 Annual Report, BUR egregiously manipulated its ROIC and IRR on a $7.4 million investment by categorizing Napo as a win with a significant return when it should have been a loss. BUR responded “The claim is simply false”. BUR then elabor… more

Burford Capital Ltd.

Behavioral Analysis of Burford’s Response Indicates Significant Deception (BUR LN)

Muddy Waters Capital LLC remains short Burford Capital Ltd. Third party behavioral analysis strongly indicates that Burford’s management was deceptive in their written and verbal responses to our initial report. Muddy Waters engaged Qverity to analyze management’s statements in the August 8, 2019… more

Burford Capital Ltd.

Burford’s Response is Nothing More Than Distraction and Thin Excuses (BUR LN)

Leave it to former trial lawyers to talk so much, and yet say so little. BUR’s written response and numbing two-hour call did nothing to dispel our view that BUR a) aggressively marks its cases up to generate non-cash profits, b) manipulates its (non-IFRS) ROIC and IRR metrics in order to justify i… more