Pirate Capital, the activist hedge fund firm run by Thomas Hudson, has made additional cuts to its exposure to James River Coal Co. The firm sold 245,370 shares from Nov. 15-22, leaving it with about 1.2 million shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This comes on the heels of it selling 868,973 shares earlier in November (AIN, 11/27).
After Pirate first reached the 5% ownership threshold in November 2005, the stock has plummeted from roughly $42 per share to about $10 where it was trading last week. The stock was trading around $14.8 when Pirate settled its feud with the company in August. The Jolly Roger Fund sold 50,000 shares at $9.86 per share. It also disposed of 20,035 shares at $9.68 and 52,650 shares at $10.01. The Jolly Roger Activist Portfolio Company fund also made identical trades.
Pirate had been agitating the company this year and sought to take control of its board (AIN, 7/10); the two sides eventually settled with Pirate gaining board seats. However, the stock price has also been steadily trending down. Calls to Pirate were not returned by press time.