Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1492490
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 FEBRUARY 2023 NEWS ping." Asked for comment on the Vicere- oy research, Steward International insists it is not controlled by MPT but has not specifically denied claims about the opacity of the ownership structure, designed to keep Stew- ard International under the control of Steward Systems. "Manolete and Steward Health Care International are two separate companies, with separate operations, management and corporate structure. MPT does not in any way own or control Stew- ard Health Care International, and saying otherwise is wrong and in- tentionally misleading. Viceroy's statements are transparently and knowingly false; they plainly have the effect, or are intended, to cause serious and unjustified reputational harm to Steward International; and Steward International will not hesi- tate to take steps necessary to pro- tect its patients and its reputation." MaltaToday queries in 2022 When in early 2022, Steward Malta was asked by MaltaToday about the joint venture, a spokesperson said that assets, rights and international property had been sold to the joint venture "ahead of the 2020 trans- action", but that the name 'Stew- ard Health Care International' and subsidiary Steward Health Care In- ternational-Malta, were sold to the Madrid-based Steward Health Care International. "This company now owns and runs the Maltese operations and is a ful- ly independent company not relat- ed to Steward Health Care Systems LLC [Steward Systems] or the joint venture. As it is a fully independent entity, Steward Health Care Interna- tional is not in a position to respond to questions relating to the own- ership or the activities of the joint venture or Steward Health Care Systems LLC, nor the activities of its shareholders. Any questions on these matters must be addressed to the relevant parties..." Viceroy insist these claims are un- true. "This entire recollection of events appears to be completely fabricat- ed and backdated by Steward and MPT," Viceroy say in their report. "At the date of acquisition, Steward Health Care International Ltd owned Steward Malta. Steward Health Care International Ltd [in the UK] was never transferred to a JV and de-reg- istered in February 2022… "Steward Spain, the current owner of Steward Malta, appears to be held by Manolete Health Holdings: the JV holding vehicle. MPT appears to hold its 49% stake in the JV via MPT Manolete Opco; the remaining 51%, purportedly controlled by Ralph De La Torre, is Steward Health Care In- ternational Investors LLC. "'Commercial connections' be- tween MPW and Steward Malta appear relatively straight forward. Steward Malta's UBO operates out of Steward System's headquarters and shares staff and management with Steward Systems." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt giving investors a picture of solid asset prices, "What's the end point?" explains Matt Stoller, the director of research at the American Econom- ic Liberties Project: "To let insiders extract cash. As the Wall Street Jour- nal detailed, MPT execu- tives have compensation 'linked to the volume of acquisitions completed by the company and other growth metrics.' Its CEO, Edward Aldag, earned $17 million in 2020, and sold $15 million of stock last year. The firm also owns three Gulfstream jets which regularly go back and forth between Birmingham and the loca- tion of Aldag's waterfront home." Stoller says the Wall Street Journal's exposé on how MPT executives burn cash while raising money they also lend to their own cash-strapped hospital tenants, has al- ready cut the value of Medical Properties Trust in half. It is also unclear as to what investors are actu- ally seeing: take the Stew- ard concession in Malta, valued at $27 million as things stand but lack- ing both ownership of the land or the hospital's brick-and-mortar. These investors have to rely on what MPT insiders are reporting, which is a $200 million stake for 49% in a joint venture with Stew- ard's management. Stoller argues that the "big theme of 2023" will be how "big quasi-fraud" can be hidden in plain sight. "That's why MPT is interesting. It's a bot- tom-feeder using inves- tor capital to send cash to private equity funds, and so those private equity funds will make money on their specific invest- ments. But ultimately, if the cash providing re- turns to key private eq- uity funds is premised on Ponzi financing, then the business of private eq- uity only exists because it can hide the real val- ues of its portfolio firms from investors… so these Ponzi finance-dependent models are not sustaina- ble without low-level ac- counting fraud, or a bail- out. Or both." "If the cash providing returns to key private equity funds is premised on Ponzi financing, then the business of private equity only exists because it can hide the real values of its portfolio firms from investors" Activist investor and short sell- er Fraser Perring runs Viceroy Research together with Aus- tralian partners Aiden Lau and Gabriel Bernarde. He is perhaps better known for having faced blowback for years from Wire- card and German regulators, who began an investigation in- to the doubting investors when Perring accused the German payment processing company of fraud yers before. He was ul- timately vindicated on Wirecard after it filed for insolvency in June 2020. As a short seller, Perring takes bets against companies based on assiduous research of com- panies whose practices or ac- counting have not been ques- tioned, and the tell-tale signs of fraud – when something is too good to be true – and the wide- spread perception in the market that the company is a highfli- er. Perring likes to describe his brand of short selling as "com- mon sense short selling", mean- ing that if there isn't a logical reason for a stock to go up, he thinks it is an attractive target. Viceroy's Fraser Perring called out Wirecard fraud years in advance... Left: Ralph De La Torre, CEO of Steward International, greets staff at the Gozo General Hospital, one of the three hospitals run by Steward in Malta and Gozo