Last week in Hedge Fund Industry: Activists Jeffrey Ubben and Paul Singer, Billionaires Andreas Halvorsen and Warren Buffett

Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen Invested in the Possible “Berkshire Hathaway” of Drug Development

In a freshly-submitted SEC filing, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Investors disclosed an investment in Roivant Sciences, a private biopharmaceutical holding company founded former hedge fund manager Vivek Ramaswamy. The investment, made in early December of 2015, was disclosed as part of Roivant’s announcement that Dr. Andrew Lo, a well-known finance professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, was appointed to its board of directors. Mr. Ramaswamy led the biggest biotech IPO in U.S. history last year, when Roivant Sciences took Axovant Sciences Ltd (NYSE:AXON) public by raising $360 million. The new company had acquired a nearly abandoned Alzheimer’s drug from GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK) before its IPO for only $5 million in upfront payments and a 12.5% share of future royalties. Mr. Ramaswamy, who plans to create the “Berkshire Hathaway” of drug development, launched Roivant with $100 million from QVT, the hedge fund firm he once worked for. Just recently, Roivant Sciences Ltd. and Plexcera Therapeutics LLC announced the formation of Enzyvant Sciences Ltd., a new biopharmaceutical company focused developing treatments for the ultra-rare condition known as Farber disease. Additionally, Mr. Ramaswamy’s firm recently paired with Takeda Pharmaceutical to launch Myovant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing a prostate cancer drug.

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Bids for Texas’ Biggest Transmission Operator

Bloomberg reported that Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) submitted a bid for Energy Future Holdings Corporation’s Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC, joining NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the pursuit of the company viewed as the Dallas-based holding company’s crown jewel. The aforementioned target is a majority-owned subsidiary of Oncor Holdings and an indirect subsidiary of EFH Corp., which is fighting to emerge from bankruptcy, that is engaged in regulated electricity transmission and distribution activities. Energy Future is considering offers that value Oncor at approximately $18 billion. The sale of Oncor is seen as crucial to Dallas-based holding company’s efforts to emerge from bankruptcy after two years of restructuring. Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit operates as a global leader in the production, transportation and delivery of energy after acquiring numerous power companies, pipelines and transmission systems over the years.

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