Tiger Global Shows Redfin Stake, Ups Apollo Stake Again

Chase Coleman's hedge fund firm Tiger Global has submitted a couple filings to the SEC.  Here are the details:

Tiger Global Shows Extent of Redfin Stake

Redfin just completed its initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker symbol RDFN.  Per a Form 3 filed with the SEC, Tiger Global already had a stake in the company from when it was private. 

They owned 1,852,943 Series B convertible preferred stock, 3,705,838 Series F convertible preferred stock, as well as 617,826 Series G convertible preferred stock.

Upon completion of the IPO, the convertible preferred stock will "automatically convert into common stock of the Issuer on a 1:1 basis" per the filing.

Per Google Finance, Redfin is "a United States-based real estate broker company. The Company provides real estate search and brokerage services. The customer can search for homes by neighborhood, city or MLS number, or can refine results using detailed parameters, such as price and number of beds or baths. The Company serves home buyers and sellers. Redfin Builder Services is its sales platform designed specifically for home builders and condominium developers. Redfin Builder Services support product analysis, digital marketing, media, listing management and sales, pricing, and reporting. The customer can search homes for sale in Austin, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, OR, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Washington, and West Palm Beach."


Tiger Global Ups Apollo Stake Again

As we've detailed in previous months, Tiger Global has been accumulating a position in private equity firm Apollo Global (APO).

Their latest just-filed Form 4 with the SEC indicates they purchased 3,200 more APO shares on July 25th at a weighted average price of $27.966 and also purchased 53,000 shares on July 26th at a weighted average price of $27.96.

After these latest purchases, Tiger Global's stake in APO is now over 33.45 million shares.

Per Google Finance, Apollo Global is "an alternative investment manager in private equity, credit and real estate. The Company raises, invests and manages funds on behalf of pension, endowment and sovereign wealth funds, as well as other institutional and individual investors. The Company's segments include private equity, credit and real estate. The private equity segment invests in control equity and related debt instruments, convertible securities and distressed debt investments. The credit segment invests in non-control corporate and structured debt instruments, including performing, stressed and distressed investments across the capital structure. The real estate segment invests in real estate equity for the acquisition and recapitalization of real estate assets, portfolios, platforms and operating companies, and real estate debt, including first mortgage and mezzanine loans, preferred equity and commercial mortgage backed securities."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Phillips 66 Stake

Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has filed a Form 3 and Form 4 with the SEC.  Per the filing, Berkshire now owns over 57.9 million shares of Phillips 66 (PSX).

Berkshire was out buying on August 26th - 28th at prices between $71.56 and $77.26.  In total, they bought over 3.17 million shares over those three days.  They now own over 10% of the company with a stake worth over $4.4 billion.

However, they had to have also acquired a ton of shares prior to that.  As the brand new issue of our Hedge Fund Wisdom newsletter flagged 10 days ago, Buffett requested confidential treatment with the SEC regarding one of his holdings for his Q2 13F filing.  PSX did not appear in his holdings list at that time so it looks like this could be the position he was requesting privacy on.

Back in the first quarter of this year, Buffett owned just 7.49 million PSX shares.  So basically between April 1st and August 28th, Berkshire ramped up its exposure to PSX in a big way.  Shares largely traded sideways over that timeframe, between $75 and $84.  During the recent market turmoil, however, they traded as low as $69.79.

Buffett has been busy lately, as he's also agreed to takeover Precision Castparts (PCP).

For more on Buffett's firm, be sure to also check out our analysis of Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA), another stock Berkshire bought in recent months.

Warren Buffett Files Form 3 on Kraft Heinz (KHC)

Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett has filed a Form 3 with the SEC regarding his position in Kraft Heinz (KHC).  Per the filing, Buffett's entities have disclosed ownership of 325,634,818 shares of common stock and 80,000 shares of 9.00% cumulative compounding preferred stock series A.

H.J. Heinz (former ticker HNZ) and Kraft Foods (former ticker KRFT) completed their merger recently and shares just began trading as a merged company under symbol KHC.  It's up 2% on its first day of trading.

Maverick Capital Discloses Castlight Health Position

Lee Ainslie's hedge fund firm Maverick Capital has filed a Form 3 and Form 4 with the SEC disclosing a new position in Castlight Health (CSLT). 

Castlight just recently completed its initial public offering (IPO) and shares surged from the IPO price of $16 up to $40 on its first day of trading. 

The Form 4 indicates Maverick acquired 450,000 shares of class B stock at a price of $16 on March 19th.  The Form 3 they filed indicates that each share of class A common stock (which Maverick owns) is convertible into one share of class B common stock at any time after the IPO. 

And after the IPO was complete, each share of Series A preferred stock, Series B preferred stock, Series A-1 preferred stock, Series C preferred stock and Series D preferred stock convert automatically into class A common stock.

Maverick owned stakes in all of those share classes according to the Form 3.  So after all is said and done after the IPO, the main takeaway is that Maverick owns a stake in the newly public Castlight Health.

Per Yahoo Finance, Castlight Health is a company that "offers health information via the internet to inform medical choices and reduce insurance costs."

For more on this manager, be sure to check out Lee Ainslie's interview with Columbia Business School.

Valinor Boosts dELiA's Stake, Nominates Board Member: 13D Filing

David Gallo's hedge fund firm Valinor Management has just revealed an increased stake in dELiA's (DLIA).  Per a Form 3 and a 13D filed with the SEC, Valinor has revealed they own 18.7% of the company with aggregate exposure to over 14.3 million shares.

The Form 3 outlines that they own over 10.7 million shares of common stock.  They also own over 13.1 million shares worth of Series B convertible preferred stock as well.  The filings were made due to activity on February 18th and we flagged Valinor's original purchase of DLIA late last year. 

Valinor has also nominated Seth Cohen to the company's board of directors.  Prior to founding Valinor, Gallo worked at Roberto Mignone's Bridger Capital.

Numerous other hedge fund managers have been involved in this name as Lee Cooperman also reported a DLIA stake in November.  Whitney Tilson's Kase Capital had also previously been a big proponent of shares, but per his recent 13F filing, it looks like he exited the position in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Per Google Finance, dELiAs is "a retail company comprised of two lifestyle brands primarily targeting teenage girls and young women. The Company generates revenue by selling predominantly to teenage consumers through direct mail catalogs, Websites and retail stores. It operates in dELiA*s brand. Through its e-commerce Webpages, catalogs and retail stores, dELiA*s (the brand) offers a variety of product categories to teenage girls to cater to an entire lifestyle. Through its catalogs and the e-commerce Webpages, it sells many name brand products along with its own brand products in key teenage spending categories. These products include apparel and accessories. Its mall-based dELiA*s specialty retail stores derive revenue primarily from the sale of apparel and accessories and, to a lesser extent, branded apparel to teenage girls. It operates in two segments: direct marketing and retail stores." 

Bridger Capital Starts New TrovaGene Stake

Roberto Mignone's hedge fund firm Bridger Capital filed a 13G and Form 3 with the SEC regarding shares of TrovaGene (TROV).  Per the filing, Bridger has disclosed an 11.9% ownership stake in TROV with 2,142,857 shares.

This is a brand new position for the hedge fund and the filing was required due to portfolio activity on July 30th. 

The company recently closed a registered direct offering of $15 million in common stock at $7 per share to an 'unnamed institutional investor.'  Doing the math on Bridger's share count above, it appears as though Bridger is that investor.

Per Google Finance, TrovaGene is "a development-stage molecular diagnostic company that focuses on the development and marketing of urine-based nucleic acid tests for patient/disease screening and monitoring. The Company's novel tests predominantly use transrenal DNA (Tr-DNA) and transrenal RNA (Tr-RNA). The Company's technology is used to all transrenal nucleic acids (Tr-NA). The Company’s urine-based test addresses market needs, such as women’s healthcare-fetal medicine-down syndrome, infectious diseases, cancer testing, transplantation, drug development and monitoring of therapeutic outcomes, ultra-sensitive analytical and detection system, technologies for the collection, shipment and storage of urine specimens, and transrenal nucleic acid extraction, and instrumentation/system platform."

ValueAct Capital Files Form 3 on Willis Group Holdings (WSH)

Jeff Ubben's activist hedge fund firm ValueAct Capital recently filed a Form 3 with the SEC regarding shares of Willis Group Holdings (WSH).  Per the filing, ValueAct has disclosed that they own 18,214,700 shares of WSH as of July 23rd.

This marks a 10% increase in the number of shares they own since the end of the first quarter when they disclosed a 16,500,000 share position in WSH.

Jeff Ubben will be speaking at the Value Investing Congress next month in New York City and Market Folly readers can receive a discount to the event here with code N13MF4

Per Google Finance, Willis Group Holdings is "provides a range of insurance brokerage, reinsurance and risk management consulting services to its clients worldwide. It has market positions in the United States, in the United Kingdom and, directly and through its associates, in many other countries. It is recognized in providing specialized risk management advisory and other services on a global basis to clients in various industries including aerospace, marine, construction and energy. It has three segments: North America , International and Global."

Jeff Ubben's ValueAct Adds to Willis Group Holdings (WSH) Position

Jeff Ubben's activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital recently filed Forms 3 and 4 with the SEC regarding their position in Willis Group Holdings (WSH).  Per the filings, ValueAct now shows an ownership stake of 17.9 million shares.

ValueAct acquired 568,400 additional WSH shares on June 6th at prices ranging from $38.90 to $39.04.  We've also recently posted about a new stock ValueAct has bought.

Per Google Finance, Willis Group Holdings "provides a range of insurance brokerage, reinsurance and risk management consulting services to its clients worldwide. It has market positions in the United States, in the United Kingdom and, directly and through its associates, in many other countries. It is recognized in providing specialized risk management advisory and other services on a global basis to clients in various industries including aerospace, marine, construction and energy."

Omega Advisors and Bridger Capital Disclose Stakes in PennyMac Financial Services

Two hedge funds filed disclosures with the SEC today regarding shares of recently public PennyMac Financial Services (PFSI).


Omega Advisors' PFSI Stake

Lee Cooperman's hedge fund Omega Advisors filed a 13D with the SEC on PennyMac Financial Services (PFSI) revealing they own 21.6% of the company with 2,759,600 shares. 

Omega purchased PFSI at $18 per share in the company's initial public offering on May 9th.  Cooperman's firm also picked up a few extra shares on May 14th at $19.71 for some of their managed accounts.

For more from this hedge fund, Lee Cooperman recently shared his market thoughts at the Skybridge Alternatives Conference (SALT).


Bridger Capital's Position in PFSI

Roberto Mignone's hedge fund Bridger Capital also filed a 13G with the SEC and disclosed a 13.5% ownership stake in the company with 1,500,000 shares due to activity on May 9th as well.


About PennyMac Financial Services

PennyMac Financial Services recently went public and is the parent firm to publicly traded subsidiary PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT).

Per Google Finance, PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. is "a specialty financial services firm with a mortgage platform and integrated business focused on the production and servicing of United States residential mortgage loans and the management of investments related to the United States residential mortgage market. The Company operates in two segments: mortgage banking and investment management. Its principal mortgage banking subsidiary, PennyMac Loan Services, LLC (PLS), is a non-bank producer and servicer of mortgage loans in the United States. PLS is a seller/servicer for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), each of which is a government-sponsored entity (GSE). The Company’s principal investment management subsidiary, PNMAC Capital Management, LLC (PCM), is an investment adviser. It manages PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT), a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT)."

Paulson & Co Reveals Stake in Realogy (RLGY)

John Paulson's hedge fund firm Paulson & Co has filed a Form 3 with the SEC revealing a stake in Realogy Holdings Corp (RLGY).

Per the filing, Paulson has revealed its ownership in 11% Series A, B, and C Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due 2018.  However, in the footnotes, Paulson has agreed to convert all of its notes into shares of common stock on the date of closing of the Realogy's initial public offering, where it has priced at the top of its range.

In total after conversion/exercise, it appears as though Paulson will own over 11.8 million shares.

Realogy is the owner of the Coldwell Banker and Century 21 real-estate brokerage brands. Apollo Global Management originally took the company private in 2007 and will now be public again.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Buys More DaVita (DVA)

In Forms 3 and 4 filed with the SEC today, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has disclosed an increased position in DaVita (DVA).

Per the filing, Berkshire now owns over a $1 billion stake with 10,197,569 shares (or over 10% of the company).  The filings disclose Berkshire purchased 282,403 shares at weighted average prices ranging from $100.96 to $103.7272 between September 26th and 28th.

In the most recent issue of our Hedge Fund Wisdom newsletter, we highlighted how Berkshire had boosted its stake in DVA by 55% during the second quarter and noted that it is portfolio activity most likely attributed to new portfolio manager Ted Weschler.  DVA was one of Weschler's big holdings at his previous hedge fund.

Additionally, our premium newsletter flagged that DVA was a consensus buy among hedge funds in Q2.  Other top holders at the end of Q2 included Viking Global, Lone Pine Capital, Pennant Capital and more.

Per Google Finance, DaVita is "a provider of dialysis services in the United States for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease (ESRD)."

For more from Warren Buffett's Berkshire, we've posted up their activity in Phillips 66.

Lone Pine Capital Discloses Kinder Morgan Stake Via El Paso Deal

Steve Mandel's hedge fund firm Lone Pine Capital filed a Form 3 and 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Kinder Morgan (KMI).  The hedge fund now owns a sizable chunk of common stock and warrants that they received via their previous position in El Paso (EP).

As pointed out in our new issue of Hedge Fund Wisdom two weeks ago, El Paso was Lone Pine's largest disclosed US equity holding as they were playing the risk arbitrage there.  EP was acquired by Kinder Morgan in a stock/warrant/cash deal.

Lone Pine has now disclosed a 12.9% ownership stake in the company with 71,780,836 shares.  This is represented by 17.6 million shares of common stock and 54.1 million shares via warrants.  The warrants have an expiration date of May 25th, 2017 and a conversion/exercise price of 40.

Numerous other prominent hedge funds were playing this arbitrage as well, so it will be interesting to see who holds on to the new entity (KMI) and who sells their position.  Our premium newsletter drew attention to the sizable stakes in El Paso by Lone Pine, Farallon Capital, Paulson & Co, Omega Advisors, JANA Partners, and Third Point.

Per Google Finance, Kinder Morgan "owns and manages a diversified portfolio of energy transportation and storage assets. The Company operates in five business segments: Products Pipelines-KPM, Natural Gas Pipelines-KMP, CO2-KMP, Terminals-KMP and Kinder Morgan Canada-KMP. The Company through Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) operates or owns an interest in approximately 37,000 miles of pipelines and approximately 180 terminals. These pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel."

In other portfolio activity from Mandel's firm, we've highlighted how Lone Pine has been buying Ulta Salon.

JANA Partners Discloses Barnes & Noble (BKS) Stake

Barry Rosenstein's event-driven hedge fund JANA Partners filed a Form 3 with the SEC regarding shares of Barnes & Noble (BKS). Per the filing, the hedge fund has revealed almost a 7 million share position in BKS.

This is a brand new position for JANA as they did not own shares at 2011 year-end. BKS was up over 18% today as investors speculated the activist investor would push the company to split up. After all, JANA recently pushed for McGraw-Hill to split up.

However, the hedge fund has only filed a passive 13G with the SEC at this time, disclosing their 11.6% ownership stake in the company. If they were pursuing activism, they would have filed a 13D.

In the Form 3, JANA also disclosed "put options (obligation to buy)" representing 250,000 shares with an exercise date of May 18th, 2012 and a strike price of $13. We've quoted the above from the filing because it's caused a bit of confusion.

In the traditional definition of buying options, puts are the right, but not obligation, to sell shares. They've written "obligation to buy" instead on the Form 3. So, this could mean 1 of 2 things: they either sold the puts or they meant to write "calls (obligation to buy)."

Both are essentially bullish bets so it's just technicalities. We've sent an inquiry to JANA.

If they sold puts, that means they're more than likely willing to buy more shares at the $13 pricepoint. This would be the first time we've ever seen a fund disclose the sale of options, as usually they only disclose when they purchase calls or puts.

And if they actually bought calls, they most likely bought them when they were out of the money (due to the $13 strike). On the big surge today due to the news of JANA's stake, these calls (if that's what they meant) are now in the money. We hope to get clarification from them about this, but either way it seems to be a bullish wager.


BKS Top Holders

This is an interesting shake-up in terms of ownership stakes. Billionaire Ron Burkle owns a sizable stake in BKS, as does John Malone's Liberty Media (LMCA). (Interestingly, JANA also owned a chunk of LMCA shares as of the end of 2011).

Almost a year ago, Liberty made an offer to acquire BKS for $17 per share in cash, but the two eventually settled on BKS selling Liberty $204 million in convertible preferred bonds.

Other top hedge fund holders of BKS on record as of December 31st, 2011 include Balyasney Asset Management and Citadel.

Conversely, Mick McGuire's Marcato Capital had previously disclosed a sizable put position in Barnes & Noble. Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners has also been short BKS.


Bulls Versus Bears

The bulls point to Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader segment as attractive. Some analysts believed that's what John Malone's company targeted in the first place and others have postured that JANA might push for a split up of the company.

Bears obviously point to the fact that it's no secret physical booksellers are facing heat in the form of a) competition from cheaper prices from Amazon.com (AMZN) and b) the digitilization of the publishing industry as books convert into e-books.

Barnes & Noble's primary brick and mortar competitor in this arena, Border's, filed for bankruptcy. BKS is looking to avoid the same fate and it looks like some investors are eying the e-book segment.

It will be interesting to see what happens given that BKS has been a favorite short of various hedge funds, but you also have potential activists involved (JANA) and potential buyers that have demonstrated their interest (Liberty) on the long side.

For more of our coverage of this hedge fund, head to JANA's presentation on MHP.