George Soros in Surprising Move Buys 8% of Manchester United

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Billionaire investor George Soros dumped his holdings in the financial sector based on the latest regulatory filing of his investment management firm, Soros Fund Management Llc, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

George Soros in Surprising Move Buys 8% of Manchester United

Soros Management Fund sold out its 420,000 shares in Citigroup (NYSE:C), 710, 400 shares in JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), and 120,000 shares in Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). The firm completely wiped out its positions in the financials sectors.

The company also sold all 682,000 shares in Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and 1,570,858 shares in InterOil Corporation (NYSE:IOC).

The investment management firm also sold out its holdings in various technology companies, including Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL) 18,000 shares, Intel Corporation (Nasdaq:INTC), and Salesforce.com, Inc (NYSE:CRM) 200,000 shares. Interestingly he purchased additional 341,000 shares of Facebook (Nasdaq:FB), worth $10.6 million at around $20.38 per share on June 30. Soros also increased his investments in SPDR Gold Trust by 884,400, worth more than $137 million, an indication that his position is bullish on gold.

Soros Management Fund also made a surprising investment in the football club Manchester United. Based on  its 13G filing, the hedge fund bought 7.85 percent or 3.1 million Class A shares of the Manchester United (NYSE:MANU). The hedge fund is one of the top shareholders of the investment team. The hedge fund manager did not provide any reasons why he purchased large stakes in the sports team.  The Glazer family owned the majority of Class B shares in Manchester United.

According to  financial data provider Markit, many hedge funds have a negative outlook on Machester United’s stock, and  8.4 percent of its stock was borrowed for short selling last Friday. We noted in an earlier article today, that Manchester United’s Listing on the New York Stock Exchange raises questions about accounting. Soros has invested in a company called InterOil Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IOC), which many people accused of being a fraud. Although, no one has alleged that Manchester United is a fraud, the pick seems eerily similar.

Manchester United is considered the most valuable sports team, with $2.23 billion market valuation. The company’s stock value during its initial public offering (IPO) was $14 per share. The stock is trading at around $13.20 per share during the afternoon trading at the New York Stock Exchange.

As of June 30, 2012, the firm’s largest holding is Walmart (NYSE:WMT), with 4,831,800 shares or 4.87 percent of its total portfolio, and is worth more than $336.8 million. Its second biggest investment is Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO) 25,385,678 shares with approximately a $232.8 billion market value; followed by General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) 8,577,000, with approximately $178.8 billion market value.

The firm also owns 4,134,546 shares of Wesport Innovations Inc. (Nasdaq:WPRT), worth $4.13 billion and 4,476,000 shares of NetApp, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP), with a more than $142.4 billion market value. Both stocks ranked 4th & 5th, or comprised 2.20 percent and 2.06 percent of Soros’ total portfolio.

Based on its filing, the firm also owns stakes in corporate bonds, with more than $100 million total market value, including Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), Lucent Technology, Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD), and JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ:JDSU).

As of June 30, 2012, Soros Management Fund has $6, 920,897,513 market value, with a total of 76 stocks under its portfolio.

A report from the New Yorker cited that Soros was hurt during his recent low profile private meeting with President Barack Obama regarding the global problems. An unnamed confidant of the hedge fund billionaire said, “They pissed on him. He didn’t want a f$#@ing thing! He didn’t want a state dinner, or a White House party—he just wanted to be taken seriously.”

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