……an ex-Enron guy making a killing.
It’s getting pretty brutal in Europe as Vlad has taken Nordstream down for “maintenance”. All across Western Europe nations are beginning to come to grips with the fact that this winter many of its citizens will have to choose between eating or freezing, much of its industry will need to idle and many of its power utilities will need huge bailouts. The Euro has been pounded below parity with the dollar and speaking of pound(ing), the British Pound Sterling is seeing lows against the dollar it has not seen since 1985.
Enter Ulf Ek, Chief Investment Officer of Northlander Commodity Advisors LLP. If there’s anyone who can profit from the misery and pain caused by utilities failing it’s an Enron alumni. If you remember in 2000 and 2001 the California power grid was essentially taken hostage by Enron. Enron traders would actually call power generation plants that they controlled to go off the grid for a few hours to jack up power prices in order to line their pockets and screw over millions of Californians with rolling blackouts. There’s actually tapes Enron Call you can listen to. They even stole from Grandma Millie! Grandma Millie
Northlander is up over 50% this year betting on the chaos and misery of Europe, gaining 11% in August alone as the crisis deepens. As far as I know Northlander hasn’t called Putin the way Enron called California power generators in 2000, but who knows. Ek showed all the sensitivity you’d expect when he stated in a recent investor letter obtained by Bloomberg News,
“We have every reason to believe Northlander’s good fortunes over the last few years can continue for the coming years. It’s not an issue that can be easily rectified through regulation, as there is a potential risk of a real energy deficiency this winter. “The only way to reduce prices and reduce the risk of blackouts in Europe is to reduce demand.”
Nice work Ulf.
You might find it interesting that another former Enron trader and Northlander partner, Harry Arora, is running for CT State Treasurer. He is a Republican who had tried to unseat Congressman Jim Himes (D) in 2018 before being elected to the State Senate.
It's the whole ex-Enron energy trader part that gets me. Remember the Grandma Millie jokes they made as California went dark and broiled...because of them? If he wasnt ex-Enron I probably wouldnt have remarked on it. Irony if anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdTth0NpnCE