Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Dan Loeb’s Third Point are bullish on Calithera Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CALA) and BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOF), respectively. Adage Capital Management disclosed yesterday a new position, with 2.76 million shares of Common Stock, in Calithera Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CALA). In addition, Third Point made public its acquisition of 2.43 million shares of BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOF)’s Common Stock, for $5 per share.
Calithera Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CALA) is a $170.3 million market cap clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drugs directed against tumor metabolism and tumor immunology targets for the treatment of cancer. Adage Capital Management acknowledged ownership of 2.76 million shares of Common Stock, which account for almost 15.5% of the company’s shares outstanding. Adage started acquiring the company’s stock in October, when it went public, and paid prices ranging from the IPO price of $10.00 per share, to others as low as $6.80 per share (around mid-October).
Other major institutional investors that hold a stake larger than 10% in Calithera Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CALA) are Delphi Management Partners (more than 2.4 million shares), Morgenthaler Venture Partners (about 2.16 million shares), and Advanced Technology Ventures (2.11 million).
On the other hand, Dan Loeb’s Third Point disclosed the acquisition of 2.43 million shares of BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOF)’s Common Stock. Exercising in-the-money (or at-the-money) derivative securities, which expired on October 17 (the date on which the transaction took place), the fund paid $5 per share, and took its holdings to 3.48 million shares (of which Mr. Loeb can be deemed beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly).
This stake makes of Third Point the largest institutional shareholder (amongst those we keep track of) in this $41.9 million market cap company engaged in the production and sale of ethanol and its co-products. Trailing Mr. Loeb’s fund are David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies. Greenlight Capital acknowledged ownership of 2.21 million shares of BioFuel Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOF) around mid-July (up from 1.42 million held by the end of the second quarter of the year), while Renaissance Technologies boosted its exposure to the company by 660% over the second quarter, and now owns 254,047 shares of Common Stock. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management can be also counted amongst the company’s bulls, with 20,642 shares.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any stocks or funds mentioned
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