market folly

Hedge fund Carlson Capital has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Phoenix Technologies (PTEC). Due to portfolio activity on October 21st, Carlson disclosed 5.3% ownership stake in PTEC with 2,153,800 shares and paid $8,861,372 for the stake. This is a brand new position for Carlson as they previously did not own any shares. In terms of other recent portfolio activity out of the hedge fund, they recently sold Cano Petroleum shares (CFW).

The activist 13D on PTEC is intriguing due to the multiple bidders pursuing an acquisition of Phoenix Technologies. Per the SEC filing, "On August 17, 2010, the Issuer issued a press release announcing entry into a definitive merger agreement with affiliates of Marlin Equity Partners (“Marlin”) pursuant to which Marlin will acquire all outstanding shares of the Issuer's stock for $3.85 per share in cash. In addition, on October 28, 2010, affiliates of Gores Capital Partners III, L.P. (“Gores”) submitted a definitive offer and proposal to acquire all of the securities of the Issuer for cash consideration of $4.05 per share."

And just yesterday, Phoenix received another definitive offer from Goes Group to acquire all shares outstanding at $4.20 per share. So it will be interesting to see if Carlson has already achieved their end-game with a higher bid, or if they have other plans here.

Taken from Google Finance, Phoenix Technologies "designs, develops and supports core system software, operating system software and application software for personal computers and other computing devices."

For more of our coverage of this hedge fund, head to our posts on Carlson Capital.