William Ackman began the new year on a positive wave. Through January 10, Ackman reported that Pershing Square Holdings was up 1.9 percent. The fund’s gains were led, in part, by his overall losing position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which climbed about 13 percent during that period. On Thursday the stock rose nearly 2 percent to close at $15.63, up 7.6 percent for the year.
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Lee Ainslie III’s Maverick Fund, managed by his Dallas firm, Maverick Capital, is the latest Tiger Cub to report a loss for 2016. The fund is off 10.5 percent year-to-date, despite dropping just 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter.
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Farallon Capital Management disclosed in separate filings that as of December 31, it had liquidated its stake in one company and established new sizable positions in two others.
The San Francisco hedge fund giant said it no longer owned shares of KLX, a maker of cabin products for passenger aircraft. As of the end of September, Farallon was the third-largest shareholder of the $2.5 billion market cap company, with more than 2.8 million shares, or 5.36 percent of the total outstanding. Baupost Group was the No. 6 shareholder. KLX stock ended Thursday at $47.36, up 5 percent for the year.
Separately, Farallon said it owned 29.4 million shares, or 7 percent, of Sky Solar Holdings, a Hong Kong-based independent power producer. Sky Solar, which has a market cap of just $107 million, closed at $2.20 yesterday.
Farallon also disclosed owning more than 2.3 million shares, or 7.5 percent, of Sutherland Asset Management Corp. The real estate finance company, whose market cap is $434 million, closed at $13.35 on Thursday, down 1.5 percent.
