Baupost Group, the hedge fund headed by Seth Klarman disclosed a significant position in Orexigen Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for obesity.Mr. Klarman is a value investor and the author of the book entitled Margin of Safety.
The hedge fund beneficially owns 25,821,363 shares of 17.1% of Orexigen Therapeutics based on its 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The filing indicated that Baupost Group purchased its stake on behalf of various private investment limited partnerships.
Last month, Orexigen Therapeutics announced it raised $60 million after Baupost Group bought 20 million shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase 5 million shares of its common stock in a Private Placement.
The biopharmaceutical company said it would use the funds to strengthen its balance sheet while advancing its plans for the commercial launch of Mysimba in Europe and engaged in parallel continuing partnering discussions for the rights to Contrave and Mysimba in European markets and other countries outside the U.S.
Orexigen Therapeutics stock performance
The stock price Orexigen Therapeutics closed $2.53 per share, up by 6.30% on Friday. The stock surged further by more by more than 9% to $2.77 per share after-hours.
Over the past 52 weeks, Orexigen Therapeutics traded between $1.84 and $9.37 per share. The company lost more than 58% of its stock value year-to-date.
Last week, Orexigen Therapeutics announced that Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical filed a new drug application with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea for Contrave, a monotherapy for weight management in overweight or obese adult patients.
Kwangdong will market and distributed Contrave as part of its distribution agreement with Orexigen Therapeutics Ireland if the MFDS approves its new drug applications.
Baupost other recent investments
In July, Baupost Group also invested on RaNA Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing RNA-targeted medicines that selectively activate protein expression within the body’s cells. The hedge fund participated in a $55 million oversubscribed Series B financing for the biotech company.
Additionally, the hedge fund also purchased 12.9% stake in Biotie Therapies, a Finnish pharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for patients suffering from neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.
