Zach Schreiber founded PointState Capital in 2010 together with Sean Cullinan and five former Duquesne Capital portfolio managers. The fund started with $5.0 billion in AUM with Duquesne’s Stanely Druckenmiller having invested $1.0 billion. In 2012, Sean Cullinan, who served as Chairman and CEO, left the fund and was replaced by Zach Schreiber. Schreiber is scheduled to appear at the Ira Sohn Conference in New York on May 4, which is why we decided to take a closer look at some of PointState’s largest equity positions from its last 13F filing, in order to get a better idea about the investor. Alongside Schreiber, the conference is also expected to feature Stan Druckenmiller, Jeff Smith of Starboard Value, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, and Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital (see full list here).
Schreiber was in the spotlight last year when he made around $1.0 billion by shorting oil. In 2014, PointState earned around $2.0 billion with a significant amount of this coming from bets on oil. Also in 2014, Schreiber attended the Ira Sohn Conference, where he predicted the drop in oil, which was trading at around $100 and lost around half its value through the end of the year. ““If you’re long, I’m sorry for you […] With crude at $100 a barrel, you’re picking up 25 cents in front of an oncoming truck,” Schreiber said in his presentation (see more details here).
After such a great prediction, it will be interesting to see what Schreiber will say at his this year’s speech. Meanwhile, PointState last 13F filing showed that its largest long interest was in healthcare with around 36% of its $3.93 billion equity portfolio allocated to the sector. Its largest holding is represented by Israel-based generic drug manufacturer Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA), in which PointState reported a $$596.64 million stake containing 9.09 million shares. The fund has held shares of Teva since the end of 2013, but during the fourth quarter it raised the position by more than 80%.
In July 2015, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) announced the acquisition of Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN)’s generic business for $40.5 billion in cash and stock and the deal is expected to turn Teva into the leading generic drug company in the world. Teva’s stock has lost 14% since the beginning of the year amid a decline of the healthcare sector and amid the company’s announcement in March that the acquisition of Allergan’s generic unit would be delayed due to negotiations with regulators. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) has already received approval from the European Commission, but it has to get the approval of the US Federal Trade Commission and the deal could be completed by June. Overall, among the funds we track, the sentiment towards Teva increased during the fourth quarter with the number of funds bullish on the stock going up to 81 from 70, while the aggregate value of their holdings surged to $9.74 billion from $6.80 billion and represented 17% of the company at the end of 2015. Aside from PointState, billionaire Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global boosted its position in Teva by 182% to 25.04 million shares during the fourth quarter.
