Wednesday, April 16, 2014

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 4/16/14

Notes from the DoubleLine lunch with Jeff Gundlach [Reformed Broker]

The illusion of conscious investing decisions [All About Alpha]

Prem Watsa says dot-com rally to 'end in tears' [Bloomberg]

Interview with Larry Pitkowsky and Keith Trauner of GoodHaven Fund [Forbes]

Charting a tasty future for Post Holdings [Barrons]

Google moving to play a larger role in booking hotel rooms [WSJ]

US companies adding significantly to their debt [FT]

Amazon's new smartphone? [BGR]

Jeff Bezos' annual letter [SEC]

The problem with profitless start-ups [NYMag]

Can do vs can't do cultures [BHorowitz]

Michael Lewis' "The Big Short" to hit the big screen [CNN Money]


Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Trims Beam Stake Again

Bill Ackman's hedge fund firm Pershing Square Capital Management has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding their position in Beam Inc (BEAM).  Per the filing, Pershing now owns 5.5% of the company with 9.1 million shares.

Pershing previously trimmed its BEAM stake just a few months ago and since then, they've reduced their position size even further, down 2.55 million more shares. 

The filing notes that they sold the bulk of their shares on April 11th, 14th, and 15th at prices of $83.26.  This marks a total decrease in their position size of 11.7 million shares since the end of 2013.

BEAM has received a $16 billion takeover offer from Suntory via $83.50 per share in cash.  Since the spread has narrowed, it looks like Ackman is raising capital to potentially deploy into ideas with higher potential returns.

You can view other recent portfolio activity from Ackman here.