Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group has just filed its 13F for the third quarter with the SEC. Total assets listed are now at $3.3 billion. The famous value hedge fund manages approximately $24 billion. Therefore, the equity position is only a small portion of holdings. However, the fund’s decrease in equities from $3.8 billion in Q2 is significant.
The author of this article predicted that Klarman would cut the firm’s equity stake several days ago. According to a letter we obtained, Seth Klarman increased his cash stake from approximately 28% in q2 to 35% in Q3.
Im guessing that Klarman reduced his stake in $HPQ and sees the investment as mistake esp since he raised cash position and would sell off +
— Jacob Wolinsky (@JacobWolinsky) November 11, 2012
liquid cyclical stocks (he owns many small random illiquid stocks) so HPQ would go first. Well find out in a few days for sure thou.
— Jacob Wolinsky (@JacobWolinsky) November 11, 2012
Baupost group reduced stakes in some of their largest holdings. The fund’s stake in Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) was reduced by approximately 46%, while the stake in BP Plc (NYSE:BP) (LON:BP) was reduced by approximately 16%. Klarman also reduced some other recent tech positions such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) was purchased during Q2. The large stake the firm holds in News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS) (NASDAQ:NWSA) was also reduced slightly, as was the stake in Theravance Inc (NASDAQ:THRX). Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) which was purchased in Q2 was completely liquidated.
The firm made one purchase during the third quarter. Baupost bought 4,134,974 shares of Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ:ROVI). That would make Baupost Group the 7th largest shareholder of the company.
Baupost increased its stake in Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDIX), as we reported several days ago. Additionally, Klarman increased the firm’s stake in Novacopper Inc (NYSE:NCQ) ViaSat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) and NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE:NG).
Disclosure: I have a long position in BP Plc, no other position in any securities mention.
