Banco Espirito Santo is in the news today for a lot of bad reasons, but finally here is a good one. Baupost Group now holds a 2.3% stake in the Portuguese bank. Stay tuned for more analysis and make sure to check out our recent exclusive on Baupost’s investments in Spain, Greece, San Francisco Real Estate, Arby’s debt and more.
Below is the full securities filing from Banco Espirito Santo SA regarding the Baupost stake
Pursuant to and for the purposes of Article 16 of the Portuguese Securities Code (CVM) and in accordance with CMVM Regulation 5/2008, Banco Espirito Santo SA (ELI:BES) informs that it has received a notification from The Baupost Group, L.L.C. regarding the acquisition of shares which resulted in a qualified holding in BES.
On the 3rd of July, the Baupost Group acquired, over the counter, 48,100,000 BES shares. After this transaction Baupost holds 127,398,763 shares, corresponding to a 2.27% stake in Banco Espirito Santo SA (ELI:BES) share capital, effectively held according to the following chain of controlled undertakings:
Baupost Limited Partnership 1983 A-1: 12,415,907
Baupost Limited Partnership 1983 B-1: 5,298,919
Baupost Limited Partnership 1983 C-1: 29,898,741
Baupost Value Partners, L.P. – I: 7,760,596
Baupost Value Partners, L.P. – II: 9,408,910
Baupost Value Partners, L.P. – III: 3,790,093
Baupost Value Partners, L.P. – IV: 42,908,283
HB Institutional Limited Partnership: 8,477,099
PB Institutional Limited Partnership: 4,434,852
YB Institutional Limited Partnership: 3,005,363
Moreover, according to Baupost information, the relevant voting rights are also attributable to:
i) The Baupost Group, L.L.C., general partner and investment adviser to the above listed limited partnerships, which exercises the voting rights on behalf of the partnerships;
ii) SAK Corporation is the manager of The Baupost Group; and
iii) Seth A. Klarman, who is the sole shareholder and President of SAK Corporation.
H/T AldenSimons