market folly

In a 13G filing with the SEC, Tremblant Capital Group on Tuesday disclosed they own 1,758,311 shares of PDGI - PharmaNet Development Group, (formerly SFBC International). This represents a 9.0% ownership stake in the company. A 13G filing indicates passive ownership. This is a brand new position, as it was nowhere to be found in their most recent 13F filing where they disclosed their complete equity portfolio holdings as of June 30th, 2008. And, if you missed it, you can check out the rest of Tremblant's holdings from that most recent 13F which I analyzed in full here.

Tremblant Capital Group is managed by Bret Barakett. If his last name sounds familiar, its because his brother, Timothy Barakett, manages fellow macro fund Atticus Capital, whom I also track. Taken from their site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process." Tremblant is a $4.1 billion hedge fund based in New York and is run by Bret Barakett, who is a former portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management (the hedge fund run by the great Louis Bacon, whom I've also tracked here). So, as you can see, despite having a great mind of his own, Barakett has worked with some of the best in the macro game. And, that's why he's worth tracking. But, this year has proven difficult for Bret Barakett (and many other fund managers for that matter). As I noted in one of my hedge fund performance updates, Tremblant was down 8.96% as of the beginning of August.

Taken from Google Finance, PharmaNet Development Group Inc. (PDGI), formerly SFBC International, Inc., "is a global drug development services company providing clinical development services, including consulting, Phase I and bioequivalency clinical studies, and Phase II, III and IV clinical development programs to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generic drug and medical device companies around the world. The Company conducts its operations in two segments: early stage and late stage clinical development."

You can view the 13G filing at the SEC.