Corsair Capital Betting Heavily on Consumer Discretionary Stocks

Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:RHP)

– Shares Owned by Corsair Capital Management (as of June 30): 573,374
– Value of Corsair Capital Management’s Holding (as of June 30): $29.04 Million

The value-oriented asset manager reduced its Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:RHP)’s holding by 14% during the April-to-June period, to 573,374 shares. The reshuffled position was worth $29.04 million at the end of the second quarter, constituting 4.4% of the value of the investment firm’s portfolio. The shares of the real estate investment trust (REIT) which specializes in destination hotel assets in urban and resort markets are up by 7% this year. RHP’s portfolio of owned assets includes a network of four upscale resorts managed by Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) under the Gaylord Hotels brands. As most hotel-focused REITs are somewhat dependent on corporate travel, the recent announcement that home-sharing company Airbnb will integrate with three corporate travel platforms might have some investors spooked about the potential implications for RHP. However, analysts believe that this partnership will not have a meaningful impact on RHP due to its in-house convention portfolio. Bernard Selz’s Selz Capital reported ownership of 257,400 shares of Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:RHP) through the current round of 13F filings.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC)

– Shares Owned by Corsair Capital Management (as of June 30): 544,793
– Value of Corsair Capital Management’s Holding (as of June 30): $30.67 Million

Corsair Capital had 544,793 shares of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC) in its portfolio on June 30, a mere 9,337 shares more than it did on March 31. The slightly increased position was valued at $30.67 million at the end of June. The leading media and internet company operates a portfolio of well-known brands and products such as HomeAdvisor, Vimeo, About.com, Dictionary.com, The Daily Beast, and Investopedia, as well as popular dating app Tinder. In the aforementioned quarterly letter to investors, Corsair Capital said that the company’s share buybacks in the first quarter amounting to 6% of its outstanding shares, alongside a second quarter letter to shareholders from IAC’s CEO and the appointment of a new CFO, “was a significant inflection point for the company.” IAC plans to reach HomeAdvisor-related revenue of more than $1 billion in 2020, compared to a mere $355 million in 2015. IAC shares are 19% in the green year-to-date. Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group owned 3.03 million shares of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC) at the end of the first quarter.

Diamond Resorts International Inc. (NYSE:DRII)

– Shares Owned by Corsair Capital Management (as of June 30): 1.20 Million
– Value of Corsair Capital Management’s Holding (as of June 30): $36.02 Million

The long/short equity asset manager run by Jay Petschek and Steven Major increased its position in Diamond Resorts International Inc. (NYSE:DRII) by 42% during the second quarter, to 1.20 million shares. This was the second-largest position in Corsair Capital’s equity portfolio at the end of June, accounting for 5.5% of the portfolio’s value. The New York-based asset manager “made DRII a core position after management announced [in late February] it was pursuing strategic alternatives and we continued to add throughout Q2 as DRII continued to execute.” In late-June, the operator of timeshare properties agreed to be bought by private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC for approximately $2.2 billion. As stated in the second quarter letter to investors, Corsair Capital believed the timeshare resort company “would be an ideal takeout candidate for either a strategic buyer or PE buyer,” mainly owing to “its low financial leverage and limited capex requirements.” Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management owns 4,491 shares of Diamond Resorts International Inc. (NYSE:DRII) as of the end of the second quarter.

Disclosure: None