According to a newly-initiated 13D filing and its amended update, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital owns a 27.15 million-share stake in Sunedison Inc. (NYSE:SUNE), constituting 6.8% of the company’s shares. The freshly-disclosed stake includes 6.10 million shares issuable upon conversion of convertible notes and exercise of warrants. This compares to an 18.61 million-share stake revealed through the fund’s 13F for the September quarter. Billionaire Einhorn and his team engaged in discussions with representatives of the clean-energy company’s Board regarding the performance of Sunedison’s senior management team, the composition of the Board, and potential issuances of equity and equity-linked securities. Greenlight urged the company to appoint a new independent director designated by the investment firm and amend its bylaws so that the company would not be able to “make equity issuances without a supermajority vote of the Board, except in limited circumstances. It was revealed this morning that the two sides have already reached an agreement which will see Claire Gogel, a former partner at Greenlight Capital, added to Sunedison Inc. (NYSE:SUNE)’s board as an independent director.
The shares of the world’s largest renewable energy development company are down by a staggering 83% over the past year, after embarking on a steady downtrend since mid-July 2015, due to growing concerns over the company’s weak balance sheet. SunEdison was among the worst performing investments of Greenlight Capital in 2015, which contributed to the fund losing 20.20% for the year. 73 hedge funds from our system had positions in SunEdison at the end of the third quarter, compared to 93 registered at the end of the second quarter. Just recently, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group acquired a 20.81 million-share position in Sunedison Inc. (NYSE:SUNE).
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In a separate 13D filing, Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies LLC reported owning 3.25 million shares of Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT), which makes up 6.2% of the company’s outstanding shares. The investment firm owned 2.15 million shares of the prepaid debit card company on September 30, according to Harvest’s 13F for the September quarter. On January 25, Harvest Capital sent a letter to the company’s Board and revealed an in-depth presentation on the company, disclosing its discontent with “the continued mismanagement and value destruction at the Issuer under the direction of its current Chief Executive Officer, Steve Streit” and urging for an immediate leadership overhaul. The San Francisco-based hedge fund pinpointed the company’s failures under Streit’s leadership, but also proposed plans for unlocking shareholder value. Most importantly, Harvest Capital believes that Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT) can double its earnings per share over the next three-year period should the company implement the strategic “self-help” initiatives proposed by the hedge fund firm. Some of those initiatives include the removal of the current CEO, the reconstruction of the Board, and the adjustment of the cost-structure and optimization of the capital structure, among other things.
The shares of the largest provider of reloadable prepaid debit cards in the nation have lost 12% over the past year. Although the company’s total operating revenue for the first nine months of 2015 increased to $543.77 million from $450.94 million year-over-year, a spike in operating expenses overshadowed the top-line growth. The hedge fund sentiment towards the stock was negative in the third quarter, as the number of hedgies with stakes in the company dropped to 16 from 24 quarter-over-quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC owns 1.74 million shares of Green Dot Corporation (NYSE:GDOT) as of September 30.
