Matthew Grossman's Plural Investments Set to Open to New Investors?

While we don't usually cover news like this on the site, this one caught our eye. It appears as though Matthew Grossman's hedge fund Plural Investments plans to accept new capital next year. If you'll recall, Grossman launched his fund with $450 million in 2009 and was already closed to new investors before they even started trading. He previously worked at Steven Cohen's SAC Capital as the Chief Investment Officer of the CR Intrinsic unit. Before that, he followed energy stocks for Julian Robertson's Tiger Management.

This was definitely one of the more notable fund launches during the financial crisis and so it's interesting that they might already open up to new investors next year. Apparently the fund has a lengthy four year lockup so they might consider becoming more lax on that policy as well. For 2009, Plural Investments finished up 7.3%. You can see how they fared compared to others in our 2009 hedge fund performances update. We haven't seen an update as to how they're faring thus far in 2010, but some reports have postulated that the fund was flat back in the first quarter.

As of the first quarter of 2010 (according to their 13F filed with the SEC), some of Plural's largest positions included: S&P 500 (SPY) Puts, American Tower (AMT), Crown Castle (CCI), Medco Health (MHS), and Schlumberger (SLB). So it definitely seems as though Grossman's fund is on the wireless tower stocks bandwagon that we've seen many hedge funds riding. In fact, almost all of Plural's top holdings are some of the most popular stocks amongst hedge funds. We'll have to see if that holds true when they reveal their second quarter holdings in a few weeks.

Matthew Grossman's Hedge Fund Plural Investments: Portfolio Glance (13F Filing)

(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.)

This is the first we've covered Matthew Grossman's hedge fund so here's some background. Grossman founded Plural Investments in 2008 with $900 million after previously serving as the Chief Investment Officer of CR Intrinsic (of Steven Cohen's SAC Capital). Prior to that, Grossman was an energy analyst with Julian Robertson's Tiger Management. Needless to say, he has quite the resume when it comes to prominent fund managers.

Fourth quarter 2009 was actually the very first time that Plural filed a 13F with the SEC. So, we don't have any quarter over quarter portfolio changes to update you on. However, this is the first major glimpse at their portfolio and as such we'll provide their top holdings.

Top 20 Holdings by percentage of assets reported on 13F filing

1. Alcon (ACL) Calls: 7.64%
2. Grainger (GWW): 3.07%
3. Goldman Sachs (GS): 2.64%
4. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD): 2.33%
5. Eaton (ETN): 2.05%
6. Bucyrus (BUCY): 2.02%
7. US Oil Fund (USO): 1.95%
8. Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT): 1.92%
9. Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS): 1.91%
10. Flowserve (FLS): 1.77%
11. Alcon (ACL): 1.75%
12. Humana (HUM): 1.67%
13. Wellpoint (WLP): 1.55%
14. Union Pacific (UNP): 1.37%
15. CSX (CSX): 1.28%
16. Watsco (WSO): 1.19%
17. Bank of New York Mellon (BK): 1.12%
18. Cablevision (CVC): 1.11%
19. Lincoln National (LNC): 1.10%
20. Norfolk Southern (NSC): 1.07%

So, an intriguing first look at Grossman's Plural Investments. Right away you can notice a few sector themes here. While they represent a smaller portion of his overall portfolio, railroads definitely catch the eye here. Grossman's hedge fund owns practically all the remaining majors left after Burlington Northern's acquisition by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Plural owns shares in CSX, UNP, and NSC. Also, we see that Grossman fancies healthcare here as he owns shares in both Wellpoint and Humana. By far and away their largest position though is Alcon as they own both calls and common stock on the name. Lastly, we'll make note of yet another hedge fund with exposure to gold (via GLD). Whether it be for hedging, a macro bet, or some other purpose though, we don't know. Overall, an interesting mix of stocks and we look forward to being able to compare portfolios next quarter.

Data used for this article comes from Alphaclone, our source for backtesting strategies and sorting through all the hedge fund portfolio maneuvers with ease. Assets reported on the 13F filing were $826 million this quarter. Remember that these filings are not representative of the hedge fund's entire base of AUM.

In our portfolio series we've already covered a ton of long/short equity hedge funds, including:
Value, Event-Driven or Activist focused funds such as: Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, Mohnish Pabrai's Investment Fund, Carl Icahn's hedge fund Icahn Partners, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, Warren Buffett's portfolio, David Tepper's Appaloosa Management, Dan Loeb's Third Point, Eddie Lampert's RBS Partners, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, Ricky Sandler's Eminence Capital.

'Tiger Cub' and 'Tiger Seeded' funds (hedgies somehow tied to Julian Robertson): Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, David Ott's Viking Global, and Chris Shumway's hedge fund Shumway Capital Partners, Chase Coleman's Tiger Global, Roberto Mignone's Bridger Management, Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management Charles Anderson's Fox Point Capital, Jonathan Auerbach's Hound Partners, Lee Hobson's Highside Capital, David Stemerman's Conatus Capital, Matt Iorio's White Elm Capital, David Gallo's Valinor Management, Tom Brown's Second Curve Capital, and Robert Citrone's Discovery Capital.

As well as hedge funds employing various strategies ranging from long/short to merger arbitrage to global macro: John Paulson's hedge fund Paulson & Co, Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, Thomas Steyer's Farallon Capital, John Burbank's Passport Capital, Brett Barakett's Tremblant Capital, George Soros' hedge fund Soros Fund Management, Phil Hempleman's Ardsley Partners.

Be sure to check back daily for our new updates.