Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management Announced New Position in $IHG

Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management announced a new passive position of 32.19 million shares in InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG). The firm did not own any IHG share in the second quarter, and it now owns 11.1% stake as reported on October 11th. IHG has a mixed path in 2011. The stock slumped in early August and currently is still wavering between $15 and $18. Mason Hawkins might have already begun to seek the price bottoms near$16 in August, since the stock’s daily trading volume was usually less than 500 thousand shares. IHG has declined 11% so far and is trading at $17.53.

Five hedge funds had small positions in IHG in their portfolios in the second quarter. Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s Par Capital Management had more shares than the other hedge funds, with 287 thousand shares at that time. Peter J. Eichler Jr’s. Aletheia Research and Management had 240 thousand shares. Besides, Steven Cohen had 17 thousand shares and Ken Griffin had 11 thousand shares in IHG.

Southeastern Asset Management was founded in 1975 by Mason Hawkins. As of year-end 2006, the firm had $39.8 billion under control on behalf of both institutional and retail investors. Mason Hawkins graduated from University of Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance in 1970 and an MBA degree from University of Georgia in 1971. After graduation, he served as director of research in First Tennessee Investment Management and Atlantic National Bank. In 1975, Mason Hawkins founded Southeastern Asset Management with two partners, but both of them left the firm in early 80’s.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) is an international hotel business company. It owns and manages a series of brands, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, and Hotel Indigo. By July 2011, the company had a portfolio of approximately 4,400 hotels and 652,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories worldwide, according to Yahoo! Finance.