According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kevin Michael Ulrich (pictured) and Anthony Davis’ Anchorage Capital has entered into an underwriting agreement with Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF), Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Carlyle Financial Services Harbor LP, whereby Anchorage and Carlyle will each sell 1.5 million shares of Central Pacific of the total 3.0 million already agreed upon by the entities, at a price of $22.15 per share. Anchorage reduced its stake in Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) by 47% during the first three months of the year to 4.27 million shares valued at $98.06 million, and its ownership had not changed since then according to the latest filing, and represents 13.5% of the company’s outstanding stock.
Established in 2003, Anchorage is one of the largest distressed credit hedge funds. Its co-founder Anthony Davis, a former Goldman Sachs banker is scheduled to retire in September this year, but will remain a senior adviser and a large investor of the fund. The long/short New York-based fund focuses on the company’s fundamentals as part of its investment strategy in equities. Currently, Anchorage has nearly $21.6 billion in assets under management and the market value of its public equity portfolio stood at $3.58 billion at the end of the first quarter, with the finance sector contributing 34% of that value. Anchorage’s top equity holdings at the end of March included Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC), Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEMKT:LNG), and Nortek Inc (NASDAQ:NTK), which we’ll look at later in the article.
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The stock price of the $705.50 million bank holding company Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) has appreciated by nearly 16% over the last year. Among the hedge funds that we track, the interest in Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) has increased in terms of total fund ownership, as 11 firms had invested a total of $145.58 million in the company at the end of March as compared to eight funds with $215.50 million invested at the end of the previous quarter. Ken Griffin‘s renowned managed futures fund, Citadel Investment Group is another prominent stockholder of Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) with 531,900 shares valued at $12.22 million.
With 21.39 million shares valued at $502.23 million, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC) was Anchorage’s largest holding and represented 14.01% of its portfolio value. The fund initiated a position in the $3.72 billion provider of education solutions in the last quarter of 2013. The company recently completed its acquisition of Scholastic Corporation for $575 million. So far this year Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC)’s stock has surged by nearly 26%. John Paulson‘s Paulson & Co is the largest stockholder of Houghton Mifflin within our database, owning 30.91 million shares valued at $725.83 million.
Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEMKT:LNG) was Anchorage’s second-largest holding and represented 9.84% of the fund’s portfolio value. The holding was slashed by 10% in the first quarter, decreasing the stake to 4.56 million shares valued at $352.81 million. The stock of the Houston-based company engaged in LNG-related businesses is up by 7.4% over the past year. At the end of the first quarter, 11 billionaires had $4.11 billion invested in the company. Andreas Halvorsen is one of them, as his fund Viking Global holds about 15.45 million shares of Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEMKT:LNG) valued at $1.20 billion.
Anchorage’s holding in Nortek Inc (NASDAQ:NTK) was comprised of 1.49 million shares valued at $131.73 million. The $1.37 billion technology company operates in the household electronics industry. Although up by nearly 2% year-to-date, Nortek Inc (NASDAQ:NTK)’s stock has slid by over 7% over the past year. The company has embarked on a multi-year plan to improve its responsiveness and competitiveness. With regards to that, Nortek recently announced a realignment of its manufacturing operations and product offerings within the Mammoth brand and Venmar CES. Jeffrey Gates’ Gates Capital Management is the largest stockholder of Nortek Inc (NASDAQ:NTK) among the funds that we track with some 3.22 million shares valued at $284.53 million.
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