Kevin Michael Ulrich, Anchorage Advisors Boost Exposure to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Kevin Michael Ulrich‘s Anchorage Advisors, has increased its position in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co. (NASDAQ:HMHC). The fund currently holds over 21.8 million shares, versus 17.5 million reported earlier. The new stake amasses 15.6% of the company’s common stock. The position reported by Anchorage is passive by nature and has a value of $347.5 million, at the current stock price of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has lost about 3% in today’s trading. The company went public a couple of weeks ago, and since the IPO, the stock of the company edged up by around 0.3%. The IPO of the company was conducted with the shares held by the stockholders of the company, which received all the proceedings from the sale. During the IPO, the investors sold over 18 million shares at the price of $12 apiece, which was below the previous estimates of $14 to $16 per share.

Anchorage Capital was one of the biggest shareholders of the company before it went public, holding 7.8 million shares, equal to 11.2% of the company’s common stock. Since the fund has been buying shares again lately, it has strengthened its position as one of the largest shareholders of the company even after its IPO. Last week, Anchorage disclosed purchasing some 72,800 shares of the company, increasing its stake to 17.5 million shares.

John Paulson, and his hedge fund Paulson & Co. have been the largest shareholders of the company, holding an aggregate amount of 18.2 million shares, equal to 26% of the outstanding shares.

The top picks of credit-focused hedge fund, Anchorage Advisors, include Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF), in which the fund holds 9.5 million shares, followed by American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) represented by a 2.3 million shares stake, and Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV), in which the fund disclosed holding almost 33 million shares in the latest round of 13F filings.

Disclosure: none

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