Hedge Fund Anson Bets on Canada’s Real Estate After Scoring Wins

Anson Funds Management is bullish on Canada’s real estate market after its flagship fund doubled its returns to 21.2% last year, thanks to big wins on some of its housing bets.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — Anson Funds Management is bullish on Canada’s real estate market after its flagship fund doubled its returns to 21.2% last year, thanks to big wins on some of its housing bets.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.That compares to a 10.1% gain for the Anson Master Fund in 2024. The firm’s total assets under management rose to $2.4 billion as of Dec. 31.“Things are starting to get interesting again on the Canadian real estate front,” Chief Investment Officer Moez Kassam said in an interview, adding that the firm is exploring more opportunities in Canadian REITs. The Toronto-based fund built stakes in apartment owner InterRent and Minto Apartment REIT last year. Both companies will be taken private, with CLV Group and GIC agreeing to buying InterRent at a 35% premium. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.Toronto home sales slipped 11.2% in 2025 compared with the prior year, and benchmark prices fell a cumulative 6.3%, according to the city’s real estate board. But Kassam said a lack of new builds may lead to a future shortage, priming the market for a recovery.Outside Canada, Anson holds a 7.3% position in Vistry Group Plc, a UK homebuilder focused on affordable housing. The fund has $175 million in Vistry, marking its largest-ever investment, Kassam said. The company is benefiting from the government’s push to build more low-cost housing, and its shares gained 12% in London last year.Anson is also investing in special purpose acquisition companies as they make a comeback. US President Donald Trump’s return to power repopularized SPACs, with many having ties to Trump’s inner circle. Founders have raised more than $24 billion since the November election, exceeding the past two years combined. Anson has 10% stakes in Eric Trump’s New America Acquisition I Corp. and in Yorkville Acquisition Corp. The hedge fund bought 8.3% of Anthony Pompliano’s ProCap Financial, but “that one wasn’t a winner,” Kassam said. The government shutdown delayed the SPAC’s listing to December, “and then by the time everything came back, the sentiment shifted.” Tough ShortsAnson’s long-short strategy is known for bold wagers against stocks, but doing so last year was “very, very hard business,” Kassam said. In many cases, speculation was high and share prices surged regardless of a company’s performance. Short positions on Rigetti Computing Inc., a quantum computing firm, and Oklo Inc., a nuclear fission company, didn’t pay off, for example. The quantum and nuclear sectors are “just so in vogue right now — and it’s so pie-in-the-sky, you can’t really disprove anything yet because it’s so early,” Kassam said. Rigetti surged 238% and Oklo rose 45% last year, so he took off the shorts and instead swapped both positions into a basket. Valuations in both industries “got ahead of themselves, had limited fundamental basis for the underlying price they were trading at, and were 10s of years away from success,” he said. Kassam said he still thinks it’s a long-term short, but conditions are too frothy to make that bet right now.Anson, which is managed out of offices in Toronto and Dallas, hired Sagar Gupta from activist investor Legion Partners in 2023 to build the fund’s activist positions, including in Lionsgate Studios Corp., Match Group Inc. and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc., the last of which Mubadala Investment Co. is looking into buying, Bloomberg News previously reported. Kassam is optimistic about Lionsgate’s upcoming releases, which include an installment in The Hunger Games series, John Wick: Chapter 5 and a Michael Jackson biopic. “We believe a fundamental acceleration combined with a potential sale of the company can drive significant upside within a year,” Kassam said. Anson also has a long-biased offering, the North Star Tactical Equity Fund, run by Salman Malik. It delivered a 48% return last year after making bets on commodities stocks such as Osisko Development and Osisko Metals, both of which doubled in value last year. North Star works closely with the main long-short fund to co-invest in positions. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. 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