Carl Icahn: Activism Update & Investor Letter

Recently we've seen some updates in regards to Carl Icahn's portfolio. The hedge fund manager and activist investor is seeking four seats on Genzyme's (GENZ) board (one for himself and three for associates). Icahn is up to his usual rabblerousing ways and is seeking to institute change at the company. It seems likely he would pressure the company to sell itself entirely or part of its businesses. After all, shares are the lowest they've been over the last half decade. Genzyme was his fourth largest disclosed holding when we looked at Icahn's investments. This news shouldn't really be startling by any means. In typical Icahn fashion, he is assembling a platform to institute change and generate shareholder return.

Additionally, we saw a few weeks ago that Icahn said he wanted to raise his stake in Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) to nearly 30% of the company. He has put forth the offer and would need over 13 million more shares in order to do so.

All of this recent activity comes after good news regarding his Motorola (MOT) position. The company plans to split itself up and, as Icahn detailed in his recent investor letter, he thinks MOT shares have much further upside as value becomes unlocked.

Courtesy of the fine folks at Dealbreaker who originally posted this up, you'll find below Icahn Partners' annual investor letter:



You can directly download the .pdf here.

We'll have to watch the developments with GENZ and LGF as Icahn positions himself for his next big moves. For more insight from prominent hedge fund managers, we highly recommend checking out the following resources we've posted up: Paolo Pellegrini's PSQR Capital annual letter, the latest letter from Perry Partners, hedge fund Conatus Capital's letter, global macro fund Woodbine Capital's commentary, plus many more.

Carl Icahn Sells Tons Of Yahoo Shares: 13F Filing Analysis

(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.)

Next up is Carl Icahn and his hedge fund Icahn Partners. Icahn has been labeled a corporate raider and a rabblerouser for instituting change at various companies through his activist investing style. We've covered his movements on the site in the past and back in October he laid out the idea to short real estate. In the past, we've also detailed his additional insight from his guest lecture at Yale. Keep in mind that since the date of this 13F filing, Icahn has added to his Take Two Interactive (TTWO) stake numerous times.

The positions listed below were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of December 31st, 2009 as filed with the SEC. Note that we are only covering the major portfolio maneuvers. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Brand New Positions
CIT Group (CIT)
Lions Gate (Note 3.625%)


Increased Positions
Take Two Interactive (TTWO): Increased by 233.8% ~ And remember he has since added even more to his position
Genzyme (GENZ): Increased by 230.7%
Forest Labs (FRX): Increased by 21.3%


Reduced Positions
Yahoo (YHOO): Reduced by 76.1%


Removed Positions (Sold out completely):
n/a


Top 15 Holdings by percentage of assets reported on 13F filing

1. Motorola (MOT): 32.34%
2. Biogen Idec (BIIB): 23.93%
3. CIT Group (CIT): 9.32%
4. Genzyme (GENZ): 8.18%
5. Yahoo (YHOO): 6.99%
6. Amylin (AMLN): 6.40%
7. Lionsgate (LGF): 3.35%
8. Take Two Interactive (TTWO): 2.34%
9. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN): 2.11%
10. Cyberonics (CYBX): 1.49%
11. Forest Laboratories (FRX): 1.35%
12. Enzon Pharmaceuticals (ENZN): 1.03%
13. Exelixis (EXEL): 0.60%
14. Blockbuster (BBI): 0.24%
15. Wendys Arbys Group (WEN): 0.10%
    

While Icahn did not sell completely out of his Yahoo (YHOO) stake, he certainly sold off a huge chunk. It seems he was fighting somewhat of a losing battle here as he has dumped over 76% of his shares. The other big story in Icahn's portfolio is the addition of CIT Group (CIT), as it's now his third largest position. We see Seth Klarman's Baupost Group add CIT to their portfolio as well.

As you can see, he obviously runs a highly concentrated portfolio given his activist investing nature. Don't overlook the fact that Icahn also added heavily to his Genzyme (GENZ) stake and remember he is still adding to his TTWO position. The vast majority of Icahn's holdings remained unchanged on a quarter over quarter basis though.

Lastly, Icahn must be happy with the developments out of Motorola recently as they announced they will split the company into two business segments. After all, it is by far his largest holding on the 13F. Keep in mind also that Icahn has been involved in numerous distressed transactions involving casinos that obviously won't show up on these public SEC filings. That wraps up all the portfolio changes on Icahn's 13F filing.

Assets from the collective holdings reported to the SEC via 13F filing were $2.87 billion this quarter compared to $3.13 billion last quarter, so a slight down tick. Remember that these filings are not representative of the hedge fund's entire base of assets under management. Therefore, the figures above represent the percentage of their reported 13F assets, not their entire portfolio.

We'll be tracking 40+ prominent funds in our fourth quarter 2009 hedge fund portfolio tracking series. We've already covered Seth Klarman's Baupost Group and Mohnish Pabrai's Investment Funds so check back daily for our updates.