Moving on to the coal stocks, George Soros acquired a 1.03 million-share stake in Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) during the second quarter, which is valued at $2.25 million. The company’s stock has lost nearly 76% since the beginning of the year, and it seems that it has already hit the bottom and is heading for a rebound; the stock is up by over 32% today. During the last week, President Obama and EPA announced the Clean Power Plan, which will eventually force the U.S. power plants to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. The news put significant downward pressure on the coal industry, forcing the largest coal producers, like Peabody and Arch Coal, to consider filing for bankruptcy. However, researchers have recently concluded that China’s carbon emissions from its coal fired power plants have been significantly overestimated, stating that the types of coal being burned in China produced 40% less carbon than previously-assumed. This might have played an important role in the rebound of the coal industry. During the second quarter, Peabody saw a significant increase of popularity among hedge funds in our database, with 27 funds disclosing positions worth $142.1 million in aggregate, up from 19 funds a quarter earlier. In this way, these investors held around 23.40% of the company’s stock at the end of June. Balyasny Asset Management, founded by Dmitry Balyasny, represents the largest shareholder in Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) within our database, holding roughly 18.40 million shares as of the end of June.
Last but not least, we will take a look at the second-largest coal producer in the U.S., Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE:ACI). Its stock has gained over 49% so far today and is down by 81% year-to-date. George Soros’ fund holds 55,320 shares valued at $188,000, adjusted for the one-for-ten reverse split announced in July. Reportedly, Arch Coal has been recently attempting to find a compromise with its lenders opposing a debt-swap deal, which would help the coal company avoid a bankruptcy filing. Arch Coal might actually offer better terms to the holders of its $1.9 billion loan as an incentive to abandon their opposition to a proposal to swap $2.38 billion of junior-ranking borrowing for new senior obligations, according to Bloomberg. It seems that the market believes that the coal producer will find a compromise, whereas the actual compromise might push the stock even higher. Meanwhile, Douglas Dethy’s DC Capital Partners and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management are amongst the major shareholders of Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE:ACI), owning stakes of 5 million shares and 3.65 million shares, respectively.
Disclosure: None
