Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (SPB): Harbinger Group (HRG) Is Bullish On This Company; And Two Others – Fidelity & Guaranty Life (FGL), Zap.com Corp (ZPCM)

Phil Falcone’s Harbinger Group was very active over the past few days, having filed Schedule 13D forms and Form 4’s for three companies: Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB), Fidelity & Guaranty Life (NYSE:FGL) and Zap.com Corp (OTCMKTS:ZPCM). The most relevant filing was the one for Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB), which saw the firm add 168,107 shares to its holdings, taking them to a total of 31.11 million shares of Common Stock, or 59.1% of the company.

Harbinger Group is a holding company that, amongst other things, invests in public equities (through the Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund), mostly from the consumer staples sector. The company has had its ups and downs over the past few years, but made a name for itself after making $11 billion betting against subprime mortgages.

Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB) is a $4.91 billion market cap diversified consumer products company engaged in manufacturing and marketing alkaline, zinc carbon and hearing aid batteries, herbicides, insecticides and repellants and specialty pet supplies. Spectrum works as a subsidiary of Harbinger Group Inc (NYSE:HRG). According to Harbinger’s  last Form 4 filing, the firm acquired, in a series of private transactions, 74,923 shares of Common Stock on November 26, 2014 at an average weighted price of $89.75 per share and 93,184 shares on December 2, 2014 at an average weighted price of $91.72 per share.

Following these transactions, Harbinger is, by far, the institutional investor with the largest stake in Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB), with 31.11 million shares of Common Stock, which represent 59.1% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Another major institutional investor betting on Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB) is Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group, which disclosed ownership of 1.62 million shares, worth about $146 million as of the end of the third quarter, after boosting its stake by 66%. Also bullish seems Jason Karp’s Tourbillon Capital Partners, which augmented its exposure to the company by 69% over the third quarter, and now owns about 692,686 shares.

Quite recently, Harbinger Group Inc (NYSE:HRG) made the news because it procured a new office space in Soho. The company took 6,000 square feet on the third floor of Zar Property‘s 64 Wooster Street between Broome and Spring Streets.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any stocks or funds mentioned