market folly

We've just learned that Eric Mindich's hedge fund firm Eton Park Capital have acquired 42,000,000 shares of Sable Mining (LON:SBLM) due to a placing held on April 16th, 2010. Eton Park's stake is representative of a 4.53% stake in the company. Keep in mind that another prominent hedge fund, Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital, also recently boosted their stake in Sable Mining. As we detailed previously, Harbinger owned a 23.35% stake in SBLM as of March 23rd, 2010.

In terms of other activity out of Mindich's hedge fund, we recently detailed a portfolio update on Eton Park. For more of our coverage on Mindich, we recommend checking out some of his thoughts from a hedge fund panel regarding whether or not there is alpha in asset allocation. Lastly, we've also covered how Eton Park has expanded their UK positions recently as well. Their addition of a Sable Mining stake of course bolsters these actions even further.

Sable Mining Africa Ltd is small company listed on the AIM market in London. It was re-named in November 2009 and used to be called BioEnergy Africa. Sable changed in 2009 with a move away from bio-ethanol related assets into mining related energy assets. Sable Mining is now focused on the acquisition or investment in early stage coal and uranium with a particular emphasis on Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Sable Mining intends to be an active investor in an attempt to add value both operationally and strategically to the businesses it acquires or invests in. The company’s objective is to own entire or majority interests in suitable businesses or assets rather than holding minority investments. To facilitate the new strategy, the company undertook a fundraising via a placing of new ordinary shares in December 2009. It is likely that Harbinger bought shares in the placement at a price below the quoted market share price. Sable’s Chairman is ex-England cricketer and slow left arm bowler, Phil Edmonds.

Head here for a recent portfolio update on Eton Park to see what else they've been up to.