Farallon Capital Discloses Stake in Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (ADR) (SKYS); See Fund’s Other Top New Picks

Farallon Capital, a hedge fund founded by Thomas Steyer, has recently disclosed the initiation of a passive stake in Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:SKYS) according to a schedule 13G  form filed with the SEC. The fund now owns 30.0 million  shares of the independent power producer (IPP) that develops, owns and operates solar parks around the world, through its affiliates. The stake constitutes 7.7% of Sky Solar’s outstanding common stock.

Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:SKYS) is up by about 50% since its initial public offering in mid November last year. The $585.04 million company has also announced its plans to enter the Chinese solar market and is evaluating acquisition targets to that end.

Steyer had an illustrious career before he went on to set up Farallon Capital in 1986. He had worked both at Goldman Sachs at its risk arbitrage department, and also at Morgan Stanley in the mergers and acquisition division. Steyer stepped down from his post in Farallon in 2012 to pursue advocacy for alternative energy. As of the end of December last year, the value of the fund’s equity portfolio standsat $7.33 billion. Two significant sectors forming major chunks of the fund’s portfolio value were healthcare comprising 28% of the holdings and consumer discretionary constituting 30% of the portfolio value. Farallon added 30 new positions during the fourth quarter. The most notable of these in terms of value were long stakes in Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI), KLX Inc (NASDAQ:KLXI)and B/E Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:BEAV). The fund also added Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CBST) and Rockwood Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ROC) to its equity portfolio during the same period, but the companies have been sold since then.

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