Manuel P. Asensio

Biography

Manuel P. Asensio is an investment manager with over thirty years experience in the securities industry.

Mr. Asensio formed and registered Asensio & Company, Inc. in 1992 as a FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealer. He was Asensio & Company, Inc.'s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer from its formation until the organization ceased its broker-dealer activities to focus exclusively on investment management in 2003 as Mill Rock Investment Advisors, Inc.  Mr. Asensio received a BS in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1977) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1982).

While Mr. Asensio is best known is best known for his short-selling work, his investment strategy is focused more broadly on fundamental value: distressed and event-driven debt investments, in addition to shorting equities in cases of excessive valuation.  Mr. Asensio’s work has been profiled in publications such as the New York Times, Forbes, Worth, and The Business Journal.

Professional Experience:

Mr. Asensio’s securities industry experience spans more than 20 years.  Mr. Asensio began his post-MBA career in corporate finance at Bear Stearns & Co.  In 1993, Mr. Asensio founded a broker-dealer, Asensio & Company, Inc., which soon became the youngest firm ever appointed to be a co-managing underwriter of New York City’s debt offerings.

In 1996, Asensio & Company began distributing research advocating short positions in overvalued equities.  The shorting strategy generated compound annual returns of more than 40% in proprietary trading from 1996 to 2003.  Mr. Asensio withdrew his broker-dealer registration in 2003 in order to focus on investment management.

Investor Advocacy:

In advocating short positions while running Asensio & Company, Mr. Asensio targeted companies that he felt were victimizing investors through excessive and unrealistic promotion or even outright fraud.  There are more than 30 such cases presented on www.asensio.com, the website of Asensio & Company.  Each case presents research into overvaluation based on misleading, promotional statements made by the company’s management or others in the securities industry. 

The cases examined on asensio.com have exposed conflicts-of-interest within regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations, as well as general frictions in fair price discovery in the securities markets.  The asensio.com research has led to some important regulatory changes, including prompting a GAO report on deficiencies in listing requirements at the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and subsequent changes at the AMEX, changes in rules governing disclosures of sell-side analysts’ conflicts-of-interest, and improved regulation for mutual funds and pension funds.

Today the former website of asensio.com continues to distribute securities research for the sake of advocating better corporate transparency to avoid investor victimization.  A synopsis of some of the most prominent asensio.com cases is presented here http://www.asensio.com/About/SSAdvocacy.aspx 

FINRA: 

In 2003, FINRA requested information from Mr. Asensio related to reports on Polymedica Corp., published on asensio.com.  Polymedica was a company subject to a Medicaid-fraud criminal investigation, whose offices were raided by 85 FBI agents.

In the prior years, FINRA had issued more than 60 information requests related to asensio.com reports.  Mr. Asensio felt that FINRA’s requests were over-reaching and unduly numerous and extensive, and arose from conflicts-of-interest within FINRA, causing FINRA to aid FINRA-member brokers who were complicit in fraudulent stock promotions, such as in the cases detailed on asensio.com.  

Mr. Asensio objected to FINRA’s request on the Polymedica reports on jurisdictional grounds, and withdrew his FINRA membership.  Thereafter, FINRA proceded to an administrative action against Mr. Asensio even though he had already withdrawn his membership.  The matter had not been adjudicated outside of FINRA.  FINRA did not provide an opinion on the jurisdictional issue, and gave Mr. Asensio a bar sanction for failing to respond in accordance to FINRA's exclusive judgment.

Neither Mr. Asensio nor Asensio & Company was ever the subject of a customer complaint or was ever accused of any financial irregularity.   Mr. Asensio is currently working to rectify his bar sanction within FINRA and to further regulatory reform to address conflicts-of-interest within FINRA.  Among the reforms Mr. Asensio is advancing is the institution of whistleblower protections within FINRA and the SEC.