MHR Pushes for Board Seat at Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (LORL); Plus the Fund’s Other Top Picks

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) (NYSE:LGF) continues to be Rachesky’s top pick, and the turnaround of the movie and entertainment company that he helped orchestrate has proven financially lucrative to him and his fund. Rachesky owned the same 51.26 million shares at the end of 2014 that he did at the end of the third quarter of 2011. However, those shares were most recently valued at $1.64 billion compared to just $353.71 million back then, a profit of more than $1.25 billion in less than four years.

While Icahn is long gone as an investor of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) (NYSE:LGF), having sold off his large stake during the third quarter of 2011, numerous other investors have benefited from Rachesky’s work, including current shareholders Matrix Capital Management, managed by David Goel and Paul Ferri, and billionaires Israel Englander and Ken Griffin.

A 14.50 million share stake in Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV) was Rachesky’s third most valuable position at $485.46 million at the end of 2014. Rachesky opened the position during the second quarter of 2012, and has gradually increased it over the nearly three years. Rachesky also sits on the board Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV), and was successful in apppointing another member of his fund, Michael Sirignano, elected to the board early last year.

Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV) has not proven to be as successful an investment as Lions Gate, and is mostly flat since the summer of 2012. Not even the decline in gas prices has been able to benefit shares of the commercial and military truck and bus manufacturer, which are down by 25% over the past six months. Among other shareholders of Navistar are Carl Icahn, who has the largest stake among funds we track, with 16.27 million shares, and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, which held 6.10 million shares at the end of 2014.

Disclosure: None