By letter dated November 20, 2015, the Company issued a statement in response to what it considers to be a misleading, unprincipled report issued on November 19, 2015 by Spruce Point Capital Management (the “Fund”) and to unusually high trading volume in its stock shortly after publication of the Spruce Point report.
The Fund is a self-identified short-seller in IRSA's stock. Its own report reveals that the Fund and its affiliates have a "short position" in IRSA's stock "and therefore stand to realize significant gains" in the event that the price of IRSA's stocks declines. The Company believes that the short-seller Fund’s self-interest is clearly evident, and that its report is riddled with incorrect inferences and inappropriate innuendo.
Eduardo Elsztain, Chief Executive Officer of IRSA, said, "We stand by the accuracy and integrity of our financial statements, which were audited by internationally-recognized external accountant firms, and our regulatory filings. We disagree with the short-seller fund’s uninformed implication that we might not have complied with our obligations under our debt instruments. This, quite simply, is not the case. IRSA is proud of its decades-long track record of compliance, and transparency in the international capital markets and categorically rejects any self-serving suggestion to the contrary.”
IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones S.A. (NYSE: IRS, MERVAL: IRSA) is Argentina's largest, most well-diversified real estate company, and it is the only company in the industry whose shares are listed on both the Bolsa de Comercio de Buenos Aires and The New York Stock Exchange. Through its subsidiary IRSA Commercial Properties, IRSA manages an expanding top portfolio of shopping centers and office buildings, primarily in Buenos Aires. The company also owns 3 luxury hotels and a unique landbank for future developments across Argentina. Its solid, diversified portfolio of properties has established the Company as the leader in the sector in which it participates. Additionally, IRSA owns a stake in Banco Hipotecario, Argentina's largest mortgage supplier in the country as well as international opportunistic investments in real estate and other assets, including lipstick building in Manhattan, an stake in the US REIT Condor hospitality trust and 49% of IDB Development, one of the largest conglomerate in Israel.