Hedge Funds’ Favorite Recently-Public Companies amid Atrophied IPO Market

#2. Silver Run Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:SRAQU)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 25

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $315.97 Million

There were 25 asset managers from our system with long positions in Silver Run Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:SRAQU) on March 31. The aggregate value of those positions totaled $315.97 million at the end of March. The energy-focused blank check company completed its initial public offering in late February by offering to the public 50.00 million units, including 5.00 million greenshoe options. The company raised roughly $500 million in the initial public offering, which will be used to fund the acquisition of energy companies. Silver Run Acquisition is currently involved in the process of locating suitable targets within the recovering energy industry, where the valuations of most energy companies have been battered as a global oil supply glut weighted significantly on crude oil prices and those companies’ prospects. The freshly-completed IPO of this blank check company may suggest that investors believe valuations in the energy sector have reached a bottom. Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group LLC was the owner of 3.75 million units of Silver Run Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:SRAQU) at the end of March.

#1. GCP Applied Technologies Inc. (NYSE:GCP)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 27

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $652.70 Million

A total of 27 hedge funds vehicles included in our extensive database were invested in GCP Applied Technologies Inc. (NYSE:GCP) at the end of the January-to-March period, with their equity investments being valued at $652.70 million on March 31. The 27 money managers stockpiled approximately 46% of the company’s outstanding common stock. In early February, W. R. Grace & Co (NYSE:GRA) completed the separation of the business that makes catalysts used in oil and chemical refining from the business that produces chemicals used in cement and concrete. Precisely, W. R. Grace spun-off its Grace Construction Products operating segment and the packaging technologies business of its Grace Materials Technologies operating segment into a new publicly-traded company called GCP Applied Technologies. After the recently-completed separation, the reshuffled Grace would have roughly $1.76 billion in sales and GCP Applied would generate $1.48 billion in sales. Under the terms of the separation, W. R. Grace shareholders were given one share of GCP for each share of Grace. Adage Capital Management, founded by Phillip Gross and Robert Atchinson, owns 3.32 million shares of GCP Applied Technologies Inc. (NYSE:GCP) as of the end of the March quarter.

Disclosure: None