Par Petroleum Corporation (PARR): Whitebox Advisors Acquires Over 1.5 Million Shares

Whitebox Advisors, managed by Andy Redleaf, has acquired around 1.50 million shares of Par Petroleum Corporation (NYSEMKT:PARR). In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Whitebox Advisors reported that it exercised its subscription privileges to acquire up to 1.50 million shares of the company’s stock for $16.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $23.9 million. According to the filing, Whitebox Advisors currently owns 8.62 million shares of Par Petroleum Corporation (NYSEMKT:PARR).

Par Petroleum Corporation (NYSEMKT:PARR), based in Houston, Texas, is a diversified energy company that manages and maintains interests in a variety of energy-related assets. In July, the company commenced its common stock rights offering, and the subscription period for the rights offering expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 13, 2014, according to a statement.

Par Petroleum Corporation (NYSEMKT:PARR) reported a net loss of $24.7 million for the second quarter of 2014. Also, the company posted a negative adjusted EBITDA of $18.8 million for the quarter.

Minneapolis-located Whitebox Advisors was founded in 2000 by Andy Redleaf, and most estimates point to assets under management north of $5 billion. At the end of second quarter of 2014, the value of the fund’s equity portfolio amounted to $2.5 billion.

In an interview on CNBC, Paul Twitchell, a partner at Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors has revealed some of what he believes to be the best investment opportunities now. He said that at Whitebox, they like to focus on “trades that provide great asymmetry between risk and reward;” this is what led them to the mortgage trade in the first place. Let’s thus take a look at some of the fund’s top picks for the last reported quarter –first quarter of 2014.

In the interview, as Twitchell said, Whitbox likes bonds. Its top nine stakes are placed in bonds from companies like Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR), JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). These nine positions were worth more than half a billion dollars by the end of the quarter, and accounted for 27% of the fund’s total portfolio’s value.

Among Whitebox’s top 20 picks, 16 are represented by bonds, one ETF and only three long equity positions.

Disclosure: none