Electron Capital Partners is a hedge fund advisor specialized in infrastructure and utility-related stocks. The firm, based in New York, was relaunched in 2013 by James Oscar Shaver also known as Jos, who is currently Electron Capital’s Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager.
Jos Shaver holds an MBA with a double major in Finance and Accounting from Columbia Business School and a BA in Mathematical Economics from Colgate University. He possesses extensive experience in investing in the utilities and infrastructure sectors. In the years before launching his hedge fund, Mr. Shaver served as Senior Investment Banker of SG Barr Devlin in charge of covering utilities in different European countries. Also, he served as Head of UBS’ Utility Investment Banking Group in Asia. Most recently he joined SAC Capital Advisors, where he served as Portfolio Manager.
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Electron Capital invests mainly in global utilities and infrastructure companies. Although the fund seeks to diversify its holdings, it maintains a substantial portion of its portfolio positions in utility-related issuers. It provides its services to pooled investment vehicles and focuses on investing in the public equity markets across the globe. The fund attempts to uncover undervalued and overvalued securities as well as event-driven situations. For this purpose, it employs a combination of in-house and external research. Its primary objective is to achieve absolute returns through long and short investments.
Its Electron Global Master Fund has been subject to fluctuating results over the past five years. In 2013, the fund achieved an annual return of 14.71%. However, it lost 2.84% in 2014. For 2015, the fund’s performance improved and brought back 17.63%, only to have another down year in 2016 with a loss of 3.20%. In 2017 the fund jumped back on its feet and generated a return of 15.09%. As of October 29th, 2018 the fund’s annual return was at 5.12%. Electron Global Master’s total return amounted 53.55% with a compound annual return of 7.98%. Its worst drawdown was at 7.85. Electron Capital disclosed, on its latest Form ADV, to manage $1,19 billion in client assets on a discretionary basis as of February 25th, 2019.
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At the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, Electron Capital Partners disclosed an equity portfolio valued at $764.97 million with twenty-two positions on it. However, none of its holdings were among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
As of December 31st, 2018 the fund’s most significant position was Exelon Corp (NYSE:EXC) with 2,528,634 shares worth a value of $114.04 million. This stock makes 14.9% of the fund’s portfolio value. Exelon is by revenue the largest electric parent company in the United States. The company it’s involved in power generation, energy sales and transmission of regulated utilities.
Electron Capital’s second largest holding was FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) where the fund acquired 3,025,455 shares assessed in $113.60 million. FirstEnergy is an energy company that operates across the United States. Its subsidiaries are involved in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management.
Head on to the next page to read more about Electron Capital Partner’s equity portfolio changes during this Q4 of 2018.
During Q4 of 2018, the fund had added nine new positions to its portfolio. Among those were Scana Corp (NYSE: SCG), where the fund acquired 1,975,666 shares valued $94.40 million. Scana was a regulated electric and natural gas public utility. As of January 2019, Scana was acquired by Dominion Energy (NYSE:D), which is also the second new addition to the fund’s portfolio with 360,147 shares worth $25.74 million.
At the same time, Electron Capital seemed to increase its interest in some of its positions. For instance, it raised its stake in Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH) by 146% acquiring 4,936,956 shares assessed in $23.35 million. Also, the fund’s holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) were given a boost of 131% amounting 516,113 shares with a value of $55.84.
On the other hand, the fund decided to trim its stock in five of its positions. It lowered its investment by 61% in Advanced Disposal Services Inc. (NYSE:ADSW) to 439,404 shares with a value of $10.52 million. Furthermore, its stake in Tellurian Inc. (NASDAQ:TELL) was reduced by 23% acquiring a total of 1,933,985 shares valued at $13.44 million.
During the fourth quarter of 2018, Electron Capital decided to let go of six positions of its equity portfolio. It sold out its 1,436,542 shares in PG&E Corp (Pacific Gas & Electric) (NYSE:PCG) assessed in $66.10 million, and its 1,434,698 shares in NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE:NRG) valued in $53.66 million.
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This article was originally published in Insider Monkey.
