Scott Sandell, a large shareholder and director with over 30 affiliations is the insider to watch for retail investors. He is the general partner of New Enterprise Associates. We have picked his five largest stakes in terms of value.
Sandell, has the largest position in Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN). He holds 54.24 million class A shares, with a value of around $588 million. In August 2013 he sold 35,287 shares. His sentiment, though has remained bullish, unlike the high prices associated with most acquisitions. New Enterprise Associates is the company that backed Groupon prior to its IPO and held 43.73 million class A shares received in the IPO.
A couple of days back, Groupon, acquired Ideeli, a leading online flash fashion retailer, to further extend its presence in fashion and apparel. The deal was closed for $43 million in cash. Ideeli, a short-lifecycle, flash-sale online company is very small sized in comparison to Groupon’s global leadership, and has left most investors unimpressed.
Aside from Sandell, Theodore Leonsis, director at Groupon now holds 793,546 shares, sold 19,750 shares a week ago. P Eric Lefkofsky, chief executive officer also sold 454,166 shares recently.
Another company that has held Scott Sandell’s interest is TESARO Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRO).Sandell holds 9.85 million shares valued at $323 million. TESARO Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRO) is an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients by acquiring, developing and commercializing safer and more effective therapeutics. Rolopitant is a product the company has developed to prevent nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy.
The company has recently reported successful results of the primary endpoint for Rolapitant and seeks US Food and Drug Administration approval, which is a good sign for its investors, including Mr. Sandell.
Joseph Edelman‘s Perceptive Advisors, has 4.75% of its 13F portfolio invested in Tesaro Inc, and holds 1.51 million shares. Columbus Circle Investors increased its holdings in the company by a sixfold in the third quarter of last year and now holds 671,500 shares.
In the meanwhile SEC filings for Epizyme, Inc. (NASDAQ:EPZM) states that Scott Sandell holds a position on 6.44 million shares valued at $242 million. In November 2013 he purchased 406,500 shares.
Epizyme is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company creating personalized therapeutics for patients with genetically defined cancers. Epizyme has built a proprietary product for histone methyltransferases, or HMTsm known as epigenetics, that control gene expression. Genetic alterations or mutations may result in oncogenisis. By focusing on the genetic drivers of cancers, Epizyme’s targeted science seeks to match the right medicines with the right patients for a personalized approach to cancer treatment.
A Robert Copeland, executive vice-president at Epizyme, trimmed his holdings by 15,006 shares on January 13, and now holds 25,931 shares. J Robert Gould, president and CEO, also sold 30,000 shares in the first week of January.
A couple of days ago, Mr. Sandell has decreased his stake in Cvent Inc (NYSE:CVT) significantly. The investor disposed over 1.13 million shares that have been sold at $35.5 apiece. Even following the sale, Sandell holds a large position in the company, 6.16 million shares worth $225.5 million.
Cvent Inc (NYSE:CVT) operates a cloud-based enterprise event management platform. It went public last August and since then its stock gained around 10%. However, many investors expressed their interest in the newly public company, and in the previous round of 13F filings, 15 funds out of those we track reported adding Cvent Inc (NYSE:CVT) to their equity portfolio. Drew Cupps’ Cupps Capital Management owns the largest stake, which contains around 221,300 shares.
Scott Sandell continues to remain an important investor in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) as he holds 2.28 million shares valued at $166.42 million. Clovis Oncology, Inc. is a bio-pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing innovative anti-cancer agents. Clovis Oncology targets development programs at specific subsets of cancer populations, and simultaneously develops diagnostic tools that direct a compound in development to the population that is most likely to benefit from its use. In its press release, it announced FY14 and likely development milestones that are to be achieved. Initial stage studies would commence for its cell lung cancer before June 2014. It’s ovarian cancer drug –rucaparib- will see patient recruitment to begin.
Partner Fund Management, led by Christopher Medlock James holds 2.03 million shares of Clovis Oncology, worth $123.24 million. Steven Cohen‘s SAC Capital Advisors, also has 1.09 million shares in its equity portfolio.
