Clinton Group, a fund founded by George E. Hall, has recently disclosed a letter sent to the shareholders of Campus Crest Communities Inc (NYSE:CCG), which is one of the largest holdings in Clinton Group’s equity portfolio. The fund owns 619,400 shares of the company, according to its latest 13F filing, and has recently partnered with Campus Evolution Villages, LLC. In the letter, both parties expressed their disappointment with the performance of Campus Crest Communities and urged other shareholders to support their nominees to the board of directors.
Clinton Group is an activist fund that over the years has engaged in several situations involving companies like The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSLQ), ValueVision Media Inc (NASDAQ:VVTV) and NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRI). The fund first won a proxy fight with The Wet Seal and appointed four directors to the board. However, over the last calendar year, the stock of The Wet Seal lost around 99%, and recently the company announced plans to file for bankruptcy. Nevertheless, Clinton raised its position in the company during the fourth quarter to 4.36 million shares. Moreover, the latest 13F filing showed that the fund has drastically reshuffled its equity portfolio amid the departure of its former manager Greg Taxin. Clinton closed over 200 positions and initiated stakes in some 280 companies. Overall, the portfolio is very diversified and is valued at $320.85 million, up from $247.20 million in the previous quarter.
Clinton disclosed its largest stake in EVINE Live Inc (NASDAQ:EVLV), formerly ValueVision Media. Clinton reported holding 1.16 million shares of the company, valued at $7.64 million. At the end of the third quarter, Clinton reported ownership of over 1.24 million shares of ValueVision. The fund won a proxy fight against ValueVision in June 2014 and managed to replace the CEO and overhaul the board of directors of the company, which was renamed by the new management in November to EVINE Live Inc (NASDAQ:EVLV). Since Clinton won the proxy fight, the stock of the digital commerce company has gained around 27%. Aside from Clinton, EVINE Live Inc (NASDAQ:EVLV) was also included in the equity portfolios of Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management and J. Carlo Cannell‘s Cannell Capital, which reported holding 3.56 million shares and 3.09 million shares respectively.
Clinton Group also revealed ownership of 2.34 million shares of Atlantic Power Corp (NYSE:AT), the position valued at $6.33 million representing the second-largest holding in its equity portfolio. Atlantic Power Corp is a small-cap owner and operator of a fleet of power generation and infrastructure assets in the US and Canada. The stock lost around 27% in the last six months and the fact that Clinton Group targeted the company in October represented good news for investors. Earlier Atlantic Power Corp (NYSE:AT) had tried to sell itself. Clinton Group intended to further push for a sale of the company at $4.00 per share after a strategic review conducted in September. In an exchange of words back in October, Clinton stated that it believed that the sale of the company at $4.00 per share was possible, but the company replied that it had not received any offers above $3.04 per share, which was the price of the company on May 1 when rumors about a sale started to emerge. However, with the involvement of an activist investor, Atlantic Power Corp (NYSE:AT) gained some attention from investors. For example, Nathaniel August‘s Mangrove Partners initiated a $15.31 million stake in the company during the fourth quarter that contains 5.64 million shares.
