 Hedge fund behemoth Bridgewater has shown its hand in Europe with roughly 15 billion in bets against companies on the continent and in Great Britain, filings reviewed by Reuters show. The worlds biggest hedge fund managers short positions amount to more than 5.3 billion in France and 4.7 billion in Germany, while in Spain its shorts add up to almost 1.4 billion and 821 million in three Italian companies. Hedge funds engage in the practice of shorting by borrowing a stock from an institutional investor, such as a pension plan, and selling it back at a profit when the price drops. 