market folly

Alex Klabin and Douglas Silverman's hedge fund Senator Investment Group recently filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of International Paper (IP).  Per the filing, Senator has disclosed a 5.2% ownership stake in IP with 23,088,500 shares.  The filing was required due to portfolio activity on March 28th.

This marks a 452% increase in the number of shares they own.  At the end of 2012, Senator owned 4,179,065 shares, but they also owned call options representing 3,500,000 shares as well.

Per Google Finance, International Paper is "a global paper and packaging company, with primary markets and manufacturing operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Asia and North Africa. The Company operates in four segments: Industrial Packaging; Printing Papers; Consumer Packaging, and Distribution."

About Senator

Alex Klabin and Doug Silverman founded the hedge fund firm in February 2008 with a focus on global long/short investing in distressed assets and equities. They were originally seeded by Blackstone Strategic Alliance Fund with $150 million and at the end of 2012 reported holdings worth $4.5 billion on their 13F filing (which isn't indicative of their entire AUM total).  Prior to founding Senator, both worked at Jamie Dinan's York Capital.

For more on this hedge fund, we've also posted up Senator's pitch on Rayonier (RYN) as well.