In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Elliott Management, led by Paul Singer, disclosed increasing its activist position in CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD). The stake was raised to 2.37 million shares from 1.50 million shares that Elliott Management held at the end of the first quarter of 2015. The stake is equal to 6.6% of the company’s outstanding common stock. CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialization of therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of cardiorenal and infectious diseases.
Elliott Associates was founded by Paul Singer in 1977 and stands as one of the oldest hedge funds in operation in terms of continuous management. Elliott Associates, along with Elliott International, is collectively known as Elliott Management Corporation. The value of the fund’s public equity portfolio stood at around $8.12 billion at the end of March 2015. The latest 13F showed that, during the first quarter, Elliott Associates had a strong focus on the Basic Materials, Technology, and Services sectors. Its top holdings, in terms of value as of the reporting period were Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE:JNPR), and EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC).
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New Jersey-based CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company, with a market cap of $107.9 million. Last month, the company announced that it plans to begin the first Phase 3 study for its lead product Neutrolin in the fourth quarter of 2015. The Phase 3 clinical study is designed to compare Neutrolin to heparin in an estimated 633 patients in hemodialysis being monitored for catheter related bloodstream infections (CRBSI). The study will be led by Dr. Michael Allon, from Department of Medicine, University of Alabama. Neutrolin is CorMedix’s first commercial product in Europe. It offers a catheter lock solution for the prevention of catheter related bloodstream infections and the maintenance of catheter patency in tunneled, cuffed, and central venous catheters used for vascular access in hemodialysis patients, according to CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD).
The latest Elliott Management filing also indicated that CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD)’s board of directors recently appointed Janet M. Dillione as a Director. She will hold this position until the company’s 2016 annual meeting of stockholders. Ms. Dillione’s appointment was made upon the request of Manchester Securities Corp., which partially exercised its right to appoint up to two members to the company’s board of directors. Manchester holds the board appointment rights pursuant to a letter agreement between the company and Manchester, and was entered into as part of the backstop financing made available to CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) by Manchester in March 2015. Ms. Dillione will be an independent director and will not be acting or serving as Manchester’s representative on the board. She has more than 25 years of experience leading global teams in the development and delivery of healthcare technology and services. Ms. Dillione has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Cardiopulmonary Corp. since May 2014, CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) said in a news release.
The performance of CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) has been impressive. Shares of the company have increased by 47.57% year-to-date. Among the investors we track who have enjoyed the strong performance are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, which held 361,329 shares of CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) as of the end of March. Another investor that sees value in CorMedix Inc. (NYSEMKT:CRMD) is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which initiated a position in the company during the first quarter, holding 47,600 shares as of March 31.
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