The Wall Street Journal’s Rob Copeland has a great story on a ‘Baupost Cub’, David Abrams of Abrams Capital. If you want to see some Baupost coverage, see our most recent article on Klarman here. Below is an excerpt from the article on Abrams followed by a transcript we found of Abrams and Klarman at an investment conference from 2008.
Any readers who have more info on this $8 billion one man shop, please send to jacob(@)www.valuewalk.com, will repay the favor many-fold.
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David Abrams, 53, would be near the top of every list of highly-paid hedge-fund managers—if anyone had known his name, until now. The veteran of Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group has built an almost $8 billion firm with virtually no external marketing, nor public speaking.
Between 2009 and 2013, one of David Abrams’ main funds returned 19% on an annualized basis, after fees—a performance better than 97% of all America’s hedge-fund managers, and nearly unprecedented for a fund of its size, according to data provider HedgeFund Intelligence.
The fund is up an additional 2% in the first quarter, investor documents indicate, helped by stakes in financial companies, an Icelandic bank and government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Assctn Fnni Me (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC).
This year, the firm has also branched into real estate, buying an office building in downtown Philadelphia in what Mr. Abrams has privately said will be the first of several property acquisitions.
Some other investments have lagged. David Abrams told investors last month he had taken a write-down on his stake in Anthem Education, a for-profit college that was investigated by a Senate committee for expensive tuition, high drop-out rates and allegedly misleading recruiting tactics.
Full Wall Street Journal article here
David Abrams’ portfolio holdings via Special Situations.com
See more on David Arbams from 2008 investment conference here The_Graham_+_Dodd_Luncheon_Symposium_Transcript_20081002 via rbcpa.com
