JANA Partners Sends Letter to EQT's Board, Still Opposes Rice Transaction

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in EQT (EQT).  Per the filing, JANA still owns 5.8% of the company with 10,017,129 shares (including options to purchase 1.86 million shares).


We highlighted previously that JANA opposed EQT's transaction with Rice Energy.  They continue to oppose it and JANA has sent a letter to EQT's board, which is embedded below:



You can also read it via the SEC's website here.

Viking Global Trims Rice Energy & EnCana; Adds to Calithera Biosciences

Andreas Halvorsen's hedge fund firm Viking Global has just filed three separate 13G's with the SEC. 

Viking Global Trims Rice Energy Stake

First, Viking has disclosed that they now own 5.8% of Rice Energy (RICE) with 12 million shares.

This is a decrease of over 5.45 million shares as they previously owned 17.57 million shares at the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on July 1st.

Rice recently received a takeover offer from EQT (EQT) and we highlighted how JANA Partners opposes the transaction.

Per Google Finance, Rice Energy is "an independent natural gas and oil company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) properties in the Appalachian Basin. The Company conducts its operations through two segments: Exploration and Production, and Midstream. The Exploration and Production segment is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, oil and NGLs. The Exploration and Production segment operates in the cores of the Marcellus and Utica Shales. The Company controls approximately 231,000 net acres in the Marcellus and Ohio Utica Shale cores. It operates approximately 1,164 drilling locations. The Midstream segment is engaged in the gathering and compression of natural gas, oil and NGL production of, and in the provision of water services to support the well completion activities of, Rice Energy and third parties."


Halvorsen's Firm Reduces EnCana Position

Second, Viking has also disclosed they now own 7.5% of EnCana (ECA) with 72.77 million shares. 

This is a decrease of 6.53 million shares as they previously owned 79.3 million shares at the end of the first quarter.  The filing was due to activity on July 1st.

Per Google Finance, EnCana is "an energy producer that is focused on developing its multi-basin portfolio of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) producing plays. The Company's operations also include the marketing of natural gas, oil and NGLs. All of its reserves and production are located in North America. It operates through three segments: Canadian Operations, USA Operations and Market optimization. Its Canadian Operations segment includes the exploration for, development of, and production of natural gas oil and NGLs and other related activities within Canada. Its Canadian operations include Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta and Duvernay in west central Alberta. The USA Operations include the exploration for, development of, and production of natural gas, oil and NGLs, and other related activities within the United States. The Market Optimization activities are primarily responsible for the sale of the Company's production to third party customers."


Viking Adds To Calithera Biosciences

Third, Halvorsen's firm also disclosed they now own 6.9% of Calithera Bioscience (CALA) with 2.42 million shares.

This is an increase of 114,706 shares since the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on July 1st.

Per Google Finance, Calithera Bioscience is "a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company. The Company focuses on discovering and developing small molecule drugs directed against tumor and immune cell targets that control key metabolic pathways in the tumor microenvironment. It is engaged in developing agents that take advantage of the metabolic requirements of tumor cells and cancer-fighting immune cells, such as cytotoxic T-cells. The Company's lead product candidate, CB-839, is a critical enzyme in tumor cells. Its other product candidate, CB-1158, is being developed for hematology and oncology indications. CB-1158 is a potent and selective orally bioavailable inhibitor of the enzyme arginase. CB-839 is a selective, reversible and orally bioavailable inhibitor of human glutaminase. CB-1158 has single agent anti-tumor activity in syngeneic mouse tumor models that has been demonstrated to act through an immune mechanism. CB-1158 is being tested in a Phase I clinical trial in patients with solid tumors."

JANA Partners Starts EQT Stake, Opposes Rice Transaction

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a 13D on shares of EQT (EQT).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 5.8% of EQT with over 10.13 million shares (inclusive of options to purchase 1.86 million shares).

This is a newly disclosed equity position  for JANA. They purchased shares in April, May and June at prices ranging from $53.xx to $60.xx.

JANA's Letter to EQT Board

Rosenstein's firm also sent a letter to the board of directions and say they invested because "we believe that the Company trades at a substantial discount to its intrinsic value and has a ready opportunity to unleash this value potential by immediately separating its E&P and midstream businesses into two separate companies, which we estimate could create as much as $4.5 billion (or $26 per share) of value for EQT shareholders."

Additionally, they lay out their case as to why they are against the company's acquisition of Rice Energy.

Embedded below is JANA's letter to EQT:



If you overlaid this position on JANA's portfolio as of the end of the first quarter, EQT would be their second largest position, behind only Whole Foods (WFM).

You can view other recent portfolio activity from JANA Partners here.

Lone Pine Capital Starts Rice Energy Position

Steve Mandel's hedge fund firm Lone Pine Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Rice Energy (RICE).  Per the filing, Lone Pine now owns 5.8% of the company with over 11.68 million shares.

This is a newly disclosed equity position for the firm and the filing was made due to activity on January 23rd, 2017.

Per Google Finance, Rice Energy is "an independent natural gas and oil company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) properties in the Appalachian Basin. The Company conducts its operations through two segments: Exploration and Production, and Midstream. The Exploration and Production segment is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, oil and NGLs. The Exploration and Production segment operates in the cores of the Marcellus and Utica Shales. The Company controls approximately 231,000 net acres in the Marcellus and Ohio Utica Shale cores. It operates approximately 1,164 drilling locations. The Midstream segment is engaged in the gathering and compression of natural gas, oil and NGL production of, and in the provision of water services to support the well completion activities of, Rice Energy and third parties."

Viking Global Discloses Rice Energy Position

Andreas Halvorsen's hedge fund firm Viking Global has filed a 13G with the SEC and disclosed a new position in shares of Rice Energy (RICE).

Per the filing, Viking now owns 6.5% of the company with over 10.13 million shares.  The filing was made due to activity on April 15th.

Per Google Finance, Rice Energy is "an independent natural gas and oil company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) properties in the Appalachian Basin. The Company conducts its operations through two segments: Exploration and Production, and Midstream. The Exploration and Production segment is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, oil and NGLs. The Midstream segment is engaged in the gathering and compression of natural gas, oil and NGL production of, and in the provision of water services to support the well completion activities of, Rice Energy and third parties. It holds approximately 92,000 net acres in the southwestern core of the Marcellus Shale, primarily in Washington and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania, and approximately 56,000 net acres in the southeastern core of the Utica Shale, primarily in Belmont County, Ohio."