Charter Communications’ announcement that it is acquiring Time Warner Cable for $55 billion did not take many investors by surprise. Many hedge funds were gearing up for a deal entering the second quarter. So, a large number of hedge funds were beneficiaries of the merger. Shares of Time Warner Cable surged more than 7 percent to close at $183.60 while Charter rose 2.5 percent to close at $179.78. The fact that the stock of the acquirer frequently arises along with the acquired is a quirk in the current bull market. In the past, the acquirer’s stock usually fell on fears that the deal would be dilutive or run into integration issues. Not these days.
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A number of activist hedge funds and other high-profile managers were among Time Warner Cable’s largest shareholders at the beginning of April, including Christopher Hohn’s the Children’s Investment Fund Management. He was the third-largest holder of the stock, which is the firm’s biggest holding after lifting its stake some 50 percent in the first quarter. John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. was the fifth-largest shareholder, while the stock was its third-largest holding. Eric Mandelblatt’s New York-based Soroban Fund was the seventh-largest holder of the stock, which was its second-largest holding.
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Meanwhile, seven Tiger Cubs and other funds with roots to Julian Robertson, Jr.’s Tiger Management rank among the top-25 shareholders of Charter. They include top-10 holders Philippe Laffont’s Greenwich, Connecticut-based Coatue Management, its fourth-largest holding; Stephen Mandel, Jr.’s Greenwich, Connecticut-based Lone Pine Capital, its 12th-largest position; John Griffin’s New York-based Blue Ridge Capital, its largest holding; and Jonathan Auerbach’s New York-based Hound Partners, its fifth-largest position.
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Coatue could use help from a stock popping on the big deal news. Its Coatue Offshore Fund, which lost 2 percent last year, was only up about 1.5 percent in the first four months of this year, according to a hedge fund database.
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Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital disclosed that it established a new stake of more than 3.3 million shares of Yelp, or 5.1 percent of the online listings firm. Eminence filed the position as a passive investment.
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Mark Kingdon’s New York-based Kingdon Capital Management disclosed it established a new stake of more than 5.7 million shares of Applied Minerals, or nearly 5.7 percent of the total outstanding. Applied Materials is a major producer of the mineral Halloysite clay.
