Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital Dump Some Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Shares

In a recent Form 4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Marc Lasry, the manager of Avenue capital, has revealed the disposal of  more than 2.0 million shares of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co. (NASDAQ:HMHC). The securities have been sold in seven transactions at a price of $12 per share. Following the deals, Avenue holds over 11.5 million shares of the company.

Anchorage Advisors, led by Kevin Michael Ulrich, has recently disclosed the acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt shares. The fund bought a little over 17K shares at $14 apiece, increasing their total holding of the stock to 17.5 million shares.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt provides education solutions for consumers worldwide. The company went public on November 14, 2013 with an initial price of $12, lower than the expected range of $14-$16 apiece. A little under 21 million shares were offered, including over-allotment options for the underwriters on 2.7 million shares. The company has not received any proceedings from the Initial Public Offering (IPO), since the shares were sold by existing shareholders, the largest stake being held by John Paulson‘s mega hedge fund Paulson & Co.

Marc Lasry and his fund Avenue Capital employ a mix of strategies in their pursuit of profits from distressed and undervalued debt and equity opportunities. The fund manages $785 million worth of equity and is heavily invested in stocks like Magnachip Semiconductor Corp (NYSE:MX), a position worth $88 million, CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), a stake valued at $75 million, and Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG), with the holding reportedly worth $71 million.

Disclosure: none

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