Bandera Partners Reported New Passive Stake in $DAVE

Bandera Partners obtained 8.8% passive stake in Famous Daves Of America Inc (DAVE). According to the firm’s 13G filing on October 11th, Bandera Partners now has 709,666 shares of DAVE in its portfolio. Since the firm did not report any shares in DAVE in the last quarter, this is a brand new position. DAVE was struggling in a downtrend throughout 2011. The stock has lost 28% year to date. Bandera Partners might need a long time to enter the position because DAVE’s daily trading volume was only a few thousand shares. It is possible that they had already begun the purchase in early August. Now DAVE is trading at $7.99, still in a downturn.

In the second quarter, two hedge funds had DAVE in their portfolios. Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors increased their position by 4% to 532 thousand shares, corresponding to a 6.59% stake. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies had 328 thousand shares in its portfolio, giving it a 4.07% stake ownership.

New York-based Bandera Partners was founded by Greg Bylinsky and Jeff Gramm in 2006. Bandera Partners is a value-oriented hedge fund. Previously Bylinsky, 45, was a portfolio manager at Lime Capital Management, focusing on value investing and special situations. Between 1998 and 2000, he worked at Tower Research Capital. Bylinsky has a B.A. from Yale and a J.D. from Harvard Law (1994). After graduation Bylinsky practiced law for four years at Kaye Scholer LLP. Prior to founding Bandera Jefferson Gramm worked at Arklow Capital, focusing on distressed and value investments. Thirty-five year old Gramm received an MBA from Columbia University in 2003 and a B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1996. (You can see the detailed introduction to Bandera Partners here)

According to Yahoo! Finance, Famous Daves of America, Inc. “engages in the development, ownership, operation, and franchising of restaurants under the Famous Daves name in the United States”. The company operates both full-service and counter-service restaurants. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Minnesota.