Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners sold more than two million shares of PetSmart between January 5 and January 9, at prices ranging from $81.11 to $81.25 per share. The New York-based activist firm now owns 7.7 percent of the pet supply retailing chain. In December, PetSmart announced that it agreed to be acquired by a group led by European private equity firm BC Partners for $83 per share in cash, less than five months after Jana called on PetSmart to seek a buyer for itself.
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Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management is the first hedge fund to file its 13F holdings for the fourth quarter. In the December quarter, the New York-based firm boosted its stake in DuPont by 2.5 times, to more than 24 million shares, making it the hedge fund’s number one holding, accounting for more than 19 percent of its equity portfolio. It is not coincidental that Trian filed the 13F around the same time it announced plans to launch a proxy fight with the chemicals giant. The quarterly filing also shows that Trian boosted its stake in Mondelez International, the food and beverage giant, by 10 percent, to 46.3 million shares. Otherwise, Trian made no other changes to its portfolio — no additions or subtractions, no new positions and no liquidations of positions.
Meanwhile, in December, one of Trian’s hedge funds, Trian Partners Ltd., lost 1.44 percent, trimming its gain for the year to 10.52 percent. Its onshore counterpart lost 1.29 percent last month and was up 10.56 percent in 2014, according to an investor.
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Samlyn Capital, founded by Tiger Cub and former SAC Capital portfolio manager Robert Pohly, surged more than 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter, enabling it to finish the year with a respectable 9 percent or so gain, depending upon the share class, according to its December monthly statistical report. The firm is 32.5 percent net long. The New York fund’s five largest long positions (in alphabetical order) are: Allergan, CoreLogic, E-Trade Financial, Global Payments and Tesoro. Altogether Samlyn about $5 billion in equities.
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The HFRI Fund of Funds Composite Index, operated by Chicago-based data tracker Hedge Fund Research, rose 0.14 percent in December. It gained 3.19 percent for the full year.
