In a freshly-submitted 13G filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s BlueMountain Capital Management disclosed owning 1.2 million shares of Global Partner Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:GPACU), which represent 7.7% of the newly-listed company’s outstanding common stock.
BlueMountain Capital is a New York-based activist hedge fund co-established by Stephen Siderow and Andrew Feldstein in 2003. The investment firm, with over $20 billion in assets under management, employs a wide range of investment strategies such as relative value credit, distressed and special situations, long/short equity, and asset-backed finance, to name just a few. Feldstein, the co-founder and current CEO of BlueMountain Capital, had served as a Managing Director and Head of several divisions at J.P. Morgan prior to co-founding his own shop in 2003. It’s worth noting that the hedge fund has registered only one down year since its launch in 2003. As stated by its most recent 13F filing with the SEC, BlueMountain Capital manages a public equity portfolio of $6.10 billion as of March 31, with the fund’s top ten holdings representing 32% of its entire portfolio.
Follow Andrew Feldstein And Stephen Siderow's Blue Mountain Capital
Most investors don’t understand hedge funds and indicators that are based on hedge funds’ activities. They ignore hedge funds because of their recent poor performance in the bull market. Our research indicates that hedge funds underperformed because they aren’t 100% long. Hedge fund fees are also very large compared to the returns generated and they reduce the net returns experienced by investors. We uncovered that hedge funds’ long positions actually outperformed the market. For instance the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among funds beat the S&P 500 Index by more than 66 percentage points since the end of August 2012. These stocks returned a cumulative of 123.1% vs. 56.6% gain for the S&P 500 Index (read the details). That’s why we believe investors should pay attention to what hedge funds are buying (rather than what their net returns are).
Global Partner Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:GPACU) operates as a special purpose acquisition company that is seeking to acquire businesses and assets via merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, and/or reorganization. On August 4, the company announced the closing of its initial public offering of 15.53 million shares, which include 2.03 million greenshoe options. The offering was priced at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $155.25 million that will eventually be used for the aforementioned business combinations. The units of Global Partner Acquisition began trading on the NASDAQ on July 30, under the ticker symbol “GPACU”. It’s worth noting that each unit consists of one share of the company’s common stock and one warrant, which in turn enables its holders to purchase one-half of one share for $5.75. As soon as the securities comprising the units start trading separately, the common stock of the company and warrants will be listed under the ticker symbols “GPAC” and “GPACW”, correspondingly.
Global Partner Acquisition Corporation has not yet identified any business combinations targets, however, the company intends to deploy its capital by merging with a company that has an enterprise value of between $300 million and $1.5 billion, but other smaller or larger enterprises may be considered as well. The company asserts that the characteristics and capabilities of its team, which is led by CEO Paul Zepf, makes it an attractive partner to potential target businesses and will increase the likelihood of completing a successful business combination. Paul Zepf started his finance career at the Merchant Banking Department at Morgan Stanley, but also served as a managing director of Lazar, Lazard Alternative Investments, and Golub Capital throughout his career. His experience of more than 25 years in private equity investing will most likely assist Global Partner Acquisition Corporation in completing a successful deal.
But why would anyone invest in a blank-check company? At the end of the day, an investment in this type of company is a simple bet that the company’s team has the necessary expertise to identify and complete a successful acquisition. So only time will tell whether BlueMountain Capital Management made the right decision to invest in Global Partner Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:GPACU). In the meantime, Thomas Lenox Kempner’s Davidson Kempner Partners also disclosed an ownership of 1.2 million shares in the blank-check company, which represent 6.90% of its outstanding common stock.
Disclosure: None
