Hedge Funds Profit As Monsanto Company (MON) Abandons $46.5 Billion Hostile Bid For Syngenta AG (SYT)

A total of 64 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) at the end of the second quarter, ten funds more quarter-over-quarter. At the same time, the value of these positions rose to $3.54 billion from $2.95 billion. In the meantime, there are 16 hedge funds within our database that held equity stakes in Syngenta AG (NYSE:SYT) at the end of the second quarter, compared to nine funds a quarter ago. Nevertheless, the value of the stakes decreased to $37.19 million from $63.26 million over the same period, even as the stock soared during the period on news of the hostile takeover attempt, suggesting that many funds with long positions sold out following the gains, while many event-driven funds entered it with minimal positions.

When looking at the hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey, Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital held the most valuable position in Monsanto at the end of the second quarter. Glenview Capital owned 11.07 million shares of the company as of June 30, which accounted for 4.67% of its portfolio. At the same time, Fir Tree, which is also among the largest shareholders of Monsanto, boosted its stake in the company to 2.28 million shares during the recent quarter. Moving on to the former “target”, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management was the largest equity holder in Syngenta AG (NYSE:SYT) with 132,060 shares.

To sum up, if anyone is considering holding one of the two stocks over a long-term spectrum, we would suggest to wait until the turmoil around the freshly-failed deal wipes out.

Disclosure: None