Eric W. Mandelblatt founded New York-based Soroban Capital Partners in 2010. Previously, Mandelblatt was a partner and co-CEO of TPG -Axon Capital Management, managed by Dinakar Singh. Gaurav Kapadia and Scott Friedman also joined Mandelblatt from TPG-Axon. Soroban Capital is an activist hedge fund investing in both equity and debt markets. Mandelblatt is a former Goldman Sachs energy analyst.
The value of Soroban Capital’s equity portfolio totaled $7.9 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2014, showed the fund’s latest 13F. Soroban Capital reported holding a total of 34 positions, including more than 6 that were started in the first quarter. Over 37% of the equity portfolio’s value is comprised of services stocks and more than 30% of basic materials stocks.
Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is represented as the largest holding, in which Soroban Capital revealed owning 21 million shares, up from 17.44 million shares held previously. The value of holding is nearly $850 million. Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE:WMB) is an energy infrastructure company in North America that owns interests in or operates 15,000 miles of interstate gas pipelines, 1,000 miles of NGL transportation pipelines, and more than 10,000 miles of oil and gas gathering pipelines. For first-quarter 2014, the company reported decline in net income attributable to the company to $140 million, or $0.20 per share on a diluted basis, compared with net income of $161 million, or $0.23 per share on a diluted basis, for the first quarter of 2013, according to a statement. Another investor Keith Meister’s Corvex Capital holds 41.68 million shares of the company.
Soroban Capital boosted its stake in Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:LNG) to 7.79 million shares from 4.48 million shares disclosed previously. Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:LNG) primarily engaged in LNG-related businesses, and owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG terminal and Creole Trail Pipeline in Louisiana. The company has a market cap of $15.9 billion. Recently, the company’s subsidiary Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC entered into a liquefied natural gas sale and purchase agreement with Gas Natural Fenosa LNG SL. Under the agreement, Gas Natural Fenosa will purchase approximately 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG upon the commencement of operations of Train 2 from the LNG export facility being developed near Corpus Christi, Texas. The largest shareholders include Scott Ferguson’s Sachem Head Capital, which owns 1.64 million shares, and Eric Chen’s Antipodean Advisors, which holds 2.51 million shares.
Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), a discount retailer with more than 10,000 stores in 40 states, is next on the list. The fund revealed ownership of 6.75 million shares of the company, with a reported value of $374.5 million. The stake represents a decrease from 7.43 million shares the fund previously held. For the first quarter of 2014, the company posted net income of $222 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, compared to net income of $220 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, in the same period in 2013, according to a news release.
In Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), Soroban Capital reduced its position to 7.19 million shares, worth over $350 million, from 9.03 million shares. Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) is engaged in designing and making of software and has a market cap of $12.2 billion. The company reported a 4% increase in revenue to $593 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Other significant shareholders of the company include Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global and Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital, holding 5.73 million shares and 5.18 million shares respectively.
The fifth-largest holding is CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), in which the fund cut its stake to 4.98 million shares from 5.91 million shares held previously. CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), a mass media company that creates and distributes industry-leading content across a variety of platforms to audiences around the world, has a market cap of $34.2 billion. Last month, the company’s board of directors approved a quarterly dividend on the company’s stock of $.12 per share, payable on July 1, 2014, to shareholders of record on June 10, 2014, according to a statement. Point State Capital, managed by Sean Cullinan, owns 6.80 million shares of the company.
Soroban Capital sold out its positions in Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and SemGroup Corp (NYSE:SEMG), about 106,236 shares and 1.77 million shares, respectively.
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