Matthew Halbower’s Pentwater Capital Raised Stake in $NDN

Matthew Halbower’s Pentwater Capital filed 13G on October 21st that firm now has 3,536,600 shares in 99 Cents Only Stores (NDN), corresponding to a 5.01% passive stake. Pentwater Capital only had 211 thousand shares in NDN in the second quarter. NDN showed strong performance in October. On October 11th, the stock soared after Ares and Canada Pension agreed to buy it at $22 in cash. Pentwater Capital might enter on Oct 12th when the trading volume exceeded 30 million. Later on 13th, FBR & Co. reported its 5.17% passive stake in NDN. Now NDN has realized a 36% gain year to date, and is closed at $21.70.

Twenty hedge funds owned NDN in the second quarter according to their 13F filings. Randall Smith’s Alden Global Capital increased its position by 254% to 2.85 million shares, and ranked as NDN’s largest hedge fund stakeholder at that time. Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments took the second place with 2.43 million shares, up by 127% from Q1. Other famous hedge funds also had some positions. Steven Cohen’s Sac Capital Advisors had 1.25 million shares; Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had 1.11 million shares as well as some option positions.

Matthew Halbower launched Pentwater Capital in 2007. He specializes in merger arbitrage and event-driven investing. Prior to starting Pentwater Halbower worked at Deephaven Capital following event-driven and distressed asset trading strategies. Pentwater Capital has a 13F portfolio value of more than $3 billion. The firm mainly invests in Services, Technology, Financial, and some other uncategorized equities.

99 Cents Only Stores is a primarily consumable general merchandise retailer. Its stores offer a range of consumer goods and closeout merchandise at a discount from standard retail prices. The company operated 285 retail stores with 211 in California, 35 in Texas, 27 in Arizona, and 12 in Nevada as of April 2, 2011. It opened 11 new stores during fiscal 2011.