market folly

Tom Brown's hedge fund firm Second Curve Capital have started a brand new position in Mercantile Bank (MBWM). Per a 13G filing with the SEC, the hedge fund reveals that due to trading activity on December 30th, Second Curve now owns 5.1% of MBWM with 442,707 shares.

This is a brand new position because the firm did not disclose owning shares in their previous SEC filings. Prior to founding Second Curve, Tom Brown headed the financial services group at Julian Robertson's Tiger Management. During the financial crisis, Brown was painfully early on his bullish call on the financials and it cost him dearly at the time.

Per Google Finance, Mercantile Bank "wholly owns Mercantile Bank of Michigan (the Bank). The Bank is a state banking company. The Bank’s primary service area is the Kent and Ottawa County areas of West Michigan, which includes the City of Grand Rapids in the State of Michigan. The Bank, through its seven offices, provides commercial banking services primarily to small- to medium-sized businesses and retail banking services in and around the Grand Rapids, Holland and Lansing areas."

For more on Tom Brown's hedge fund, we detailed yesterday that Second Curve acquired more CompuCredit (CCRT) as well.