Ralph V. Whitworth’s Relational Investors Bought More $PRX

Ralph V. Whitworth’s Relational Investors filed on November 25 that it has boosted its activist stake in Par Pharmaceuticals Companies, Inc. (PRX) to 8.71%. Now the firm takes about 3.18 million shares in PRX. Relational Investors also amended its original third quarter 13F filing, and reported 1.38 million PRX shares at the end of the third quarter. It’s possible that Relational Investors made the purchase throughout November at near $28 per share. Relational Investors did not own any share in PRX in the second quarter. PRX is now trading at $30.86, losing 20% in 2011.

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund tracking list, eighteen hedge funds had positions in PRX in the second quarter. Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital initiated a 703 thousand shares position and was PRX’s largest hedge fund stakeholder at that time. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies took 481 thousand shares, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management increased its position by 382% to 326 thousand shares.

Relational Investors is a money management firm led by Ralph V. Whitworth. The firm was founded in 1996 and is based in San Diego. The firm invests in publicly traded, underperforming companies which may create long-term growth. The firm seeks to engage the management via activist stake ownership and builds positive change to improve shareholder value. The firm now has a portfolio value of more than $6 billion, with most of the capital invested in Services, Basic Materials, Financial, Technology, Industrial Goods, and Healthcare sector.

Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc. is a holding company of Par Pharmaceutical, Inc., which engages in developing, licensing, manufacturing, marketing and distributing generic and branded drugs in the United States. The company mainly operates in the United States. It has two business segments: Par Pharmaceutical (Par), and Strativa Pharmaceuticals (Strativa). During 2010, Par acquired an Abbreviated New Drug Application. In November 2011, the company aqcuired Anchen Pharmaceuticals.