Harbinger Capital Sells New York Times (NYT) and Sable Mining (SBLM), Buys Crosstex Energy (XTXI)

Phil Falcone's hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners has executed some sizable transactions recently. Rumors have swirled that the manager was winding down its Special Situations fund but that has been denied. Harbinger recently sold shares in two securities of note: New York Times Co (NYT) and Sable Mining Africa (LON: SBLM).

Regarding his New York Times stake, Falcone last week revealed he sold 7 million NYT shares at around $8.13 each. Harbinger originally acquired shares in 2008 when they were trading around $19 per share, so they've sold at a large loss. According to a 13D filed with the SEC, the filing was reported due to portfolio activity on November 24th.

Previously, Harbinger owned 7.4% of the company. With its latest sales, the hedge fund now owns only 2.6%, retaining 3.7 million NYT shares. This is the second time Harbinger has sold NYT in the past month or so. Not to mention, they sold some shares back in April of this year as well.

Turning next to Harbinger's next sale, the hedge fund has announced that it placed 205,756,827 Sable Mining Africa shares (LON: SBLM) with new and existing shareholders. Due to this transaction, Harbinger no longer owns an interest in SBLM shares. Previously, we highlighted Harbinger's Sable Mining stake here as they owned over 23% of the company. Alas, no more.

So Harbinger has definitely been selling positions off (they also sold some Inmarsat (ISAT) as well), possibly to free up cash for their concentrated bet on a 4G network via their LightSquared project, but that's pure speculation on our part.

Lastly, Falcone's hedge fund firm also recently filed an activist 13D on Crosstex Energy (XTXI). Due to portfolio activity on November 16th, Harbinger has disclosed a 9.6% ownership stake with 4,500,000 shares. This is an increase in their position as they owned 3.8 million shares when they added to their XTXI position in August. Over the past three months, Harbinger has ramped up its position size by 18.2%. Harbinger paid $33,091,533 for the total shares reported.

Per Google Finance, Crosstex Energy is "is engaged, through its subsidiary, Crosstex Energy, L.P. (Partnership), the gathering, transmission, processing and marketing of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL). The Partnership operates two segments: Midstream and Treating. Its combined midstream assets consist of over 3,300 miles of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines, nine natural gas processing plants and three fractionators located in two primary regions: north Texas and Louisiana."

New York Times is "a diversified media company that includes newspapers, Internet businesses, investments in paper mills and other investments."

Stay up to date on the latest hedge fund movements by scrolling through our coverage of SEC filings.

Eric Mindich's Eton Park Acquires Sable Mining (SBLM) Shares

We've just learned that Eric Mindich's hedge fund firm Eton Park Capital have acquired 42,000,000 shares of Sable Mining (LON:SBLM) due to a placing held on April 16th, 2010. Eton Park's stake is representative of a 4.53% stake in the company. Keep in mind that another prominent hedge fund, Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital, also recently boosted their stake in Sable Mining. As we detailed previously, Harbinger owned a 23.35% stake in SBLM as of March 23rd, 2010.

In terms of other activity out of Mindich's hedge fund, we recently detailed a portfolio update on Eton Park. For more of our coverage on Mindich, we recommend checking out some of his thoughts from a hedge fund panel regarding whether or not there is alpha in asset allocation. Lastly, we've also covered how Eton Park has expanded their UK positions recently as well. Their addition of a Sable Mining stake of course bolsters these actions even further.

Sable Mining Africa Ltd is small company listed on the AIM market in London. It was re-named in November 2009 and used to be called BioEnergy Africa. Sable changed in 2009 with a move away from bio-ethanol related assets into mining related energy assets. Sable Mining is now focused on the acquisition or investment in early stage coal and uranium with a particular emphasis on Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Sable Mining intends to be an active investor in an attempt to add value both operationally and strategically to the businesses it acquires or invests in. The company’s objective is to own entire or majority interests in suitable businesses or assets rather than holding minority investments. To facilitate the new strategy, the company undertook a fundraising via a placing of new ordinary shares in December 2009. It is likely that Harbinger bought shares in the placement at a price below the quoted market share price. Sable’s Chairman is ex-England cricketer and slow left arm bowler, Phil Edmonds.

Head here for a recent portfolio update on Eton Park to see what else they've been up to.

Hedge Fund Harbinger Capital Reveals Three New Positions

Recently, Philip Falcone's hedge fund firm Harbinger Capital Partners made a series of disclosures that unveiled three new portfolio positions. Firstly, in a 13G filed with the SEC, Harbinger Capital Partners has disclosed a brand new position in Superior Well Services (SWSI). The filing was made due to activity on December 24th, 2009 and they now have a 5.6% ownership stake in the company with 1,714,300 shares. These new portfolio disclosures come right after we saw Harbinger unload shares of Calpine (CPN) and adjust two other positions.

Secondly, Harbinger has also filed a 13G with the SEC in regards to shares of Strategic Hotels & Resorts (BEE). The disclosure was made due to activity on December 24th, 2009 and they have a 5.6% ownership stake with 4,205,000 shares. This is yet another brand new position as they previously did not own any shares as per their SEC filings.

Lastly, we also see that Harbinger has been active in international markets. On the 21st of December 2009, the London Stock Market news service reported that Harbinger Capital held an interest of 90,909,091 ordinary shares of Sable Mining Africa Limited (AIM: SBLM) or 15.1% of the issued share capital and voting rights of the Company. Sable is a brand new holding for Harbinger and in the past we've detailed the rest of Harbinger's UK positions as well. If you're unfamiliar with our new series of tracking hedge fund positions in UK markets, we posted a preface here.

Sable Mining Africa Ltd is a small company listed on the AIM market in London. The company was re-named in November and used to be called BioEnergy Africa. It has seen a fundamental change in strategy over the last few months with a move away from bio-ethanol related assets into mining related energy assets. Sable Mining is now focused on the acquisition or investment in early stage coal and uranium assets or businesses, with a particular emphasis on Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The company intends to be an active investor in an attempt to add value both operationally and strategically to the businesses it acquires or invests in. The company’s objective is to own entire or majority interests in suitable businesses or assets rather than holding minority investments. To facilitate the new strategy, the company undertook a fundraising, via a placement of new ordinary shares in December 2009. It is likely that Harbinger bought their shares in the placement at a price below the quoted market share price. (For cricket enthusiasts: the Chairman of Sable is ex-England slow left arm bowler, Phil Edmonds).

Taken from Google Finance, Superior Well Services "provides a range of wellsite solutions to oil and natural gas companies, primarily technical pumping services and down-hole surveying services. Technical services include technical pumping, down-hole surveying and completion, production and rental tool services. Fluid logistics services include those services related to the transportation, storage and disposal of fluids that are used in the drilling, development and production of hydrocarbons."

Strategic Hotels & Resorts "operates as a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). SHR owns and asset manages upper upscale and luxury hotels that are subject to long-term management contracts. The Company conducts its operations through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including Strategic Hotel Funding, L.L.C (SH Funding). The Company’s existing hotels are operated under brands of Fairmont, Four Seasons, Hyatt, InterContinental, Loews, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Westin."

For other recent maneuvers out of Falcone's hedge fund, head to our post on Harbinger's portfolio adjustments.