After suffering a setback in June, Valiant Capital Partners resumed its surge.
The Tiger Grandcub headed by Chris Hansen posted a 7.93 percent gain last month, boosting its return for the year to 11.66 percent, according to the firm’s August monthly exposure report, seen by Institutional Investor.
The fund has already extended its run in September and is up nearly 20 percent for the year with a few trading days left in the month, an investor says. This makes Valiant one of the top-performing firms with roots in Julian Robertson Jr.’s Tiger Management.
Valiant disclosed that a new name has become a top-four equity position: utility giant Constellation Energy, according to the August report. The firm had established a new small position in the stock in the second quarter, which then ranked as its 11th-largest U.S. common stock long, according to the latest 13F filing. It’s likely Valiant has significantly boosted the position since the end of June. Since the beginning of July, the stock is up more than 31 percent.
As II previously reported, Hansen told investors that during the second quarter his long-short hedge fund firm had initiated new long positions in the power sector. Valiant also created a new side-pocket vehicle to invest in the opportunities.
Since the end of the second quarter, Valiant also has added significantly to Adidas, the fund’s fifth-largest equity long position, per the August report. The firm’s exposure increased by more than one percentage point, to 6.17 percent of equity longs.
Eli Lilly, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Microsoft remained Valiant’s three largest stock positions, according to the firm’s client reports. However, Lilly’s share shrank from 19.3 percent at the end of June to 12.7 percent at the end of August.
However, Adidas’s shares are traded on a German stock exchange, so the position does not show up in the 13F filings.
The June 13F lists different stocks as Valiant’s top holdings. According to the filing, Instacart parent Maplebear, Microsoft, media giant TKO Group Holdings, and Amazon were the four largest U.S. stocks at the end of the second quarter.
Long stock positions in general have driven the fund’s overall returns this year, kicking in 22.26 percent to gains in the first eight months. This increase was offset by a 7.49 percent loss on equity shorts. Fixed income and macro bets have played negligible roles in 2024.
Heading into September, Valiant had a gross equity exposure of 247.35 percent and a net long exposure of 55.13 percent. At the end of the second quarter, net exposure was closer to 65 percent on a lower gross exposure.