Hayman Capital Ramps Up Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Stake

Kyle Bass' hedge fund firm Hayman Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its stake in Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NSM).  Per the filing, Hayman has disclosed they own 5.3% of the company with over 4.75 million shares.

This is an increase of over 3.67 million shares since the end of 2013.  The filing was required due to activity on March 13th.

Shares of NSM and other mortgage servicers like Ocwen Financial (OCN) have dropped this year as non-bank servicers have started to come under scrutiny from regulators.

Per Google Finance, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is "a non-bank residential mortgage servicer with a range of services across the residential mortgage product spectrum. The Company’s clients include national and regional banks, government organizations, securitization trusts, private investment funds and other owners of residential mortgage loans and securities. It is a partner of financial organizations, including government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and other regulated institutions."

For more on this manager, head to an interview with Kyle Bass from House of Money.

Warren Buffett Does Asset Swap With Graham Holdings

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has announced a deal with Graham Holdings (formerly the Washington Post) to swap the vast majority of Berkshire's 28% stake in the company for a television station in Miami (WPLG), some of the Berkshire shares Graham possesses, and a few hundred million in cash.

The total deal is valued around $1.1 billion.  The Washington Post sold its namesake newspaper to Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos and left a company of various other businesses behind.  The Post had been a longstanding position in Buffett's portfolio as he originally took a stake in 1973.

What We're Reading ~ Hedge Fund Links 3/14/14

Market comments from Jamie Dinan, Rich Pzena & Doug Silverman [CNBC]

Seth Klarman on 'The Truman Show' market [Zero Hedge]

Steve Mandel's investment checklist [First Adopter]

When hedge funds lobby [Reuters]

Soros warns EU 'may not survive' financial crisis [HuffingtonPost]

Prem Watsa on why there's a monstrous real estate bubble in China [Zero Hedge]

Ackman says investigation finds Herbalife violates Chinese laws [Bloomberg]

A new name for SAC Capital: Point72 [Dealbook]

Interview with Grandmaster Capital's Patrick Wolff [Barrons]

Crispin Odey: US turnaround will spark emerging market recession [Citywire]

The value fund manager with the $57 million paycheck [Bloomberg]

10 tips for young Wall Street [CNBC]

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 3/12/14

On UnionPay, China and smuggling money in Macau [Thomson Reuters]

Google's Eric Schmidt on the future of internet freedom [NYTimes]

IPOs: when stability creates instability [Pragmatic Capitalism]

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac would be eliminated in Senate Bill [BusinessWeek]

The 'easy money' myth [Reformed Broker]

Media industry lists things that worry them about TWC/Comcast merger [WSJ]

Are malls over? [The New Yorker]

The future of TV is coming into focus and looks pretty great [Quartz]

Barely keeping up in TV's new golden age [NYTimes]

Mexico seeks telco and TV competition [Advanced Television]

Big batteries threaten big power stations and utilities' profits [Economist]

Kate Spade (KATE) faces uphill fight to be next Ralph Lauren [Bloomberg]

Smartphone payment system to be unveiled in UK [FT]

The gaming console market is in crisis [TechCrunch]

Google looking to keep its search engine relevant in age of apps [WSJ]

The future of wearable technology [SlideShare]

Alibaba to buy control of ChinaVision [Reuters]

Pershing Square Exercises Warrants on Platform Specialty Products

Bill Ackman's hedge fund firm Pershing Square Capital has updated its stake in Platform Specialty Products (PAH).  Per a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Pershing Square has revealed that they exercised their warrants on the name.

They owned 12,500,0001 warrants and each 3 warrants entitles the holder on exercise to buy 1 share of common stock for $11.50.  As such, Pershing received 4,166,665 shares of PAH.  The transaction took place on March 7th, 2014.

After this, Pershing Square owns 33.3 million shares of Platform Specialty Products.  Pershing disclosed their PAH stake in January once shares listed on the NYSE.  However, keep in mind that Pershing owned a stake prior to this listing.

We've also highlighted how fellow hedge fund Blue Ridge Capital also owns a PAH stake as well. 

And then of course Martin Franklin of Jarden and Nicolas Berggruen of Berggruen Holdings are involved too.  Platform was formed with the intent to acquire companies and their first deal was MacDermid, a specialty chemicals manufacturer for $1.8 billion.

This isn't the first time Ackman has worked with Berggruen either.  They teamed up on Justice Holdings, which then bought Burger King.

JANA Partners Trims Outerwall Position

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed an amended 13D on their position in Outerwall (OUTR).  Per the filing, JANA has disclosed a 8.4% ownerships take in OUTR with over 1.7 million shares.

JANA sold 2 million OUTR shares at $68 on March 6th.  Regarding this transaction, JANA says that,

"The Reporting Person has reduced the size of its investment in the Shares of the Issuer through regular portfolio management activities. The Reporting Person is highly supportive of the recent steps taken by the Issuer’s board and management, including the Issuer’s improved focus on capital allocation and managing costs and its enhanced commitment to returning capital to shareholders."

We highlighted when JANA originally disclosed their activist OUTR stake in October of 2013.

Per Google Finance, Outerwall is "formerly Coinstar, Inc., is a provider of automated retail solutions, which offers convenient products and services. the Company's offerings in automated retail include its Redbox business, where consumers can rent or purchase movies and video games from self-service kiosks (Redbox segment), and its Coin business, where consumers can convert their coin to cash or stored value products at self-service coin counting kiosks (Coin segment). Its New Ventures business (New Ventures segment) is focused on identifying, evaluating, building, and developing self-service concepts in the marketplace."

You can view additional recent portfolio activity from JANA Partners here.

York Capital Discloses Elbit Imaging Stake

Jamie Dinan's hedge fund firm York Capital has disclosed a position in Elbit Imaging (EMITF).  Per a 13G filed with the SEC, York now owns 19.7% of Elbit Imaging with over 108.9 million shares.

The filing was required due to portfolio activity on February 28th and this is a newly disclosed equity stake.

The company recently announced a debt restructuring where its unsecured financial creditors received ordinary shares 

Dinan gave his rules of investing in a rare interview recently and shared his market thoughts if you missed it.

Per Google Finance, Elbit Imaging is "an Israel-based holding company. It operates in the fields of Commercial and Entertainment Centers, engaged in the initiation, construction and sale of shopping and entertainment centers and other mixed-use real property projects, predominantly in the retail sector; United States Real Property, investing in commercial real property in the United States; Hotels, engaged in the management and operation of hotels; Medical Industries, engaged in research and development, production and marketing of magnetic resonance imaging guided focused ultrasound treatment equipment and development of stem cell population expansion technologies and stem cell therapy products for transplantation and regenerative medicine; Residential Projects, engaged in the initiation, construction and sale of residential projects and other mixed-use real property projects, predominately residential, and Fashion Apparel, engaged in the Distribution and marketing of fashion apparel and accessories."

Viking Global Boosts Illumina Holdings

Andreas Halvorsen's hedge fund firm Viking Global filed a 13G with the SEC regarding their stake in Illumina (ILMN).  Per the filing, Viking has disclosed a 5.5% ownership stake in Illumina with over 7.1 million shares.

This marks an increase of over 5.4 million shares since the end of 2013.  The filing was made due to activity on February 28th.  Since the beginning of 2014, ILMN shares have spiked higher from $110 to $167 currently.

For more on this manager, check out a rare interview with Andreas Halvorsen on investment process.

Per Google Finance, Illumina is "a developer and manufacturer of life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company provides a line of genetic analysis solutions, with products and services that serve a range of interconnected markets, including sequencing, genotyping, gene expression, and molecular diagnostics. The Company is organized in two business segments: Life Sciences and Diagnostics. Its Life Sciences business unit includes all products and services related to the research market, namely the product lines based on its sequencing, BeadArray, VeraCode, and real-time PCR technologies. Its Diagnostics business unit focuses on molecular diagnostics. In February 2014, Illumina, Inc. announced that Novogene purchased one HiSeq X Ten. In March 2014, WuXi Genome Center has purchased Illumina HiSeq X Ten sequencing system."

Senator Investment Group Exits API Technologies Position

Alex Klabin and Doug Silverman's hedge fund firm Senator Investment Group has filed a Form 4 and 13G with the SEC regarding shares of API Technologies (ATNY).  Per the filings, Senator has sold over 5.9 million shares of ATNY at a price of $2.41 on March 7th.

After this transaction, this means Senator has completely exited their stake in API Technologies and no longer own any shares.

You can view other recent portfolio activity from Senator here.

Per Google Finance, API Technologies "designs, develops and manufactures systems, subsystems, radio frequency (RF) and secure communications products, as well as provides electronics manufacturing and engineering services. Its product lines include engineered products (including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aiming systems and synthesizers), secure communications products (including TEMPEST and emanation security, encryption and secure networking products), subsystems and components (including custom hybrids, terminals, transistors and magnetics), RF and microwave products (including custom filters, amplifiers, connectors and antennas), sensors, and power systems. It operates in two segments: Systems & Subsystems, and Secure Systems & Information Assurance."

Paulson & Co Boosts Enzymotec Stake

John Paulson's hedge fund firm Paulson & Co has filed an amended 13G with the SEC and updated their stake in Enzymotec (ENZY).  Per the filing, Paulson now owns 19.24% of the company with over 4.1 million shares.

This marks an increase of over 2.4 million shares since the end of 2013.  The filing was made due to activity on February 28th.

Per Google Finance, Enzymotec is "engaged in manufacturing of ingredients and medical foods company. Its technologies, research, and clinical validation process enables the Company to develop differentiated solutions across a variety of products. The Company markets its product portfolio primarily to established global consumer companies and target large and growing consumer health and wellness markets. Its clinically validated products include bio-functional lipid-based compounds designed to address dietary needs, medical disorders and common diseases. The Company operates in two segments: Nutrition and VAYA Pharma. In addition to its existing products, the Company has several other products to address additional indications in the development phase. enzyme processes; lipid modification; lipid analysis; and process technology and development.."

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- Isaac Schwartz, Robotti & Co
- David Hurwitz, SC Fundamental
- Michael Kao, Akanthos Capital
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- John Lewis, Osmium Partners
- Tim Eriksen, Eriksen Capital
- Dan Ferris, Extreme Value
- Chris Mayer, Agora Financial
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