Oaktree Capital Reveals New Position in Century Communities, Inc (CCS)

Howard Marks’ Oaktree Capital Management has taken a new position in Century Communities, Inc (NYSE:CCS), which first went public last summer. The filing with the SEC, which was released yesterday, but dated back to January 16, reveals that Oaktree has built a 1.28 million share position in the home-builder, giving them a 5.9% passive stake.

Oaktree Capital Management was founded by Howard Marks in 1995, and is based in Los Angeles. The fund holds a diverse equity portfolio that was valued at just over $6 billion as of September 30, and focuses on alternative investments, ones which are sometimes even viewed as contrarian to general thinking. This is the only latest new position for Oaktree, which has also recently disclosed positions in Banc of California Inc (NYSE:BANC) and Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLE), as well as a greatly increased position in Star Bulk Carriers Corp (NASDAQ:SBLK), which they have held since the third quarter of 2013.

While Oaktree may have a penchant for alternative investments, in the case of Century Communities, Inc (NYSE:CCS), our tracked hedge funds have shown a lot of early interest in them, and have in fact been more bullish on them than any other funds. Though only one of them has built a stake large enough to require disclosure with the SEC, that being Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group, which held 1.35 million shares as of September 30. Luxor, Claren Road Asset Management, managed by Brian Riano, John Eckerson, Sean Fahey and Albert Marino, and Michael Thompson’s BHR Capital were the top three shareholders of Century among institutional investors. Claren Road held 977,500 shares as of September 30, while BHR held 800,000.