Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management Reduced Its Position in $CTL.TO

Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management filed 13D on October 27th for its 30.4% activist stake in Catalyst Paper Corporation (CTL.TO). According to the filing, Third Avenue Management has sold 7.56 million shares in total since June 3rd this year as the share price dropped all the way down. Third Avenue Management was Catalyst Paper Corporation’s large stakeholder since late 2006, when it took approximately 38% of the company’s stock.  The firm now still remains about 116 million shares in its position. CTL.TO has lost about 70% year to date. It’s now trading below its price level in the financial crisis.

Third Avenue Management is managed under Martin Whitman. He is an American investment advisor who once made some critic changes in GAAP. He is founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer, and Portfolio Manager of the Third Avenue Management. Based on the firm’s latest 13F, it had $4.9 billion portfolio value in the second quarter, and mainly invested in Financial, Basic Material, and Technology sector.

According to the company’s official website, Catalyst Paper Corp manufactures diverse specialty printing papers, newsprint and pulp. The company sells its products to retailers, publishers and commercial printers in North America, Latin America, the Pacific Rim and Europe. Catalyst has a combined annual production capacity of 1.9 million tonnes.  The company is headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada and its common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CTL.