Zenit Asset Management is a Swedish hedge fund affiliated with Brummer & Partners founded by Patrick Brummer. The fund has recently disclosed its equity portfolio for the third quarter of 2014. The value of the equity portfolio decreased dramatically to $589.4 million from $876.7 at the end of the second quarter. Overall, the fund still is mainly oriented toward the tech and IT sector, which amasses almost a half of the 13F portfolio. We will discuss the top 3 holdings that Zenit Asset Management revealed in its last 13F filing, which are Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM), Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI).
Betting big on Tech
As we have mentioned earlier, Zenit invests heavily in the tech sector, with the largest holding being in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). The position amasses over 14% of the fund’s equity portfolio, even though the fund reduced its exposure by around 861,900 shares. Currently the investor holds some 2.09 million shares of the search engine giant, with a value of $85.8 million.
According to previous 13F filings, Zenit initiated a stake in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) during the first quarter, holding initially 1.37 million shares, the position later being increased to 2.95 million shares. Many investors have had high hopes for Yahoo this year, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) going public and Yahoo owning a significant chunk of Alibaba shares. Even though Yahoo sold around half of its position in the IPO, it still owns around $30 billion worth of Alibaba’s stock, which is almost as much as the whole market cap of Yahoo.
However, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has not revealed any specific plans regarding its equity investment in Alibaba and investors have pressing CEO Marissa Mayer to return this cash to shareholders. In addition, for years Yahoo has been a target for activist investors, which make the company a sweet spot for passive investors. Up until recently, Dan Loeb of Third Point has been kicking Yahoo, urging for changes, and after succeeding he dumped his position during the first three months of the year. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff Smith of Starboard Value sent a letter disclosing ownership of a significant stake and proposing several important measures to change the company’s course (see details here).
A Low-Priced Mid Cap Energy Pick
Mr. Brunner has been bullish on Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM) for over a year. Zenit currently owns 8.47 million shares of the company, worth $75.6 million, up by 2.37 million on the quarter, and from 1.25 million held initially. The investment has been disappointing for Zenit so far, which saw the stock drop by over 40%. Things might change soon however, since one of the largest shareholders of Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM) is Carl Icahn, who owns 76 million shares and has two seats on the company’s board. Even though Icahn has been holding shares for over a year now and has said long ago that he plans to explore strategic alternatives for the company, nothing much happenned.
Earlier this year, it was said that Spanish oil producer Repsol had plans to buy Talisman Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:TLM) but dropped them after being unable to find buyers for the assets that it was not interested in. Repsol is exploring the possibility to purchase some of the Canada-based company’s shale assets rather than the whole company, although nothing substantial has happened yet.
A Recently-Public Financial Stock
On the third spot as the largest position in Zenit’s equity portfolio stands Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI), a company that went public in April and appreciated by around 10% since then. Zenit holds almost 4.0 million shares of the company, valued at $71.1 million, the stake remaining unchanged over the quarter. Navient is a $7.8 billion consumer lending company that manages a portfolio of education loans.
Since the company went public many major investors revealed holding shares of Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI). Leon Cooperman is one of the largest shareholders of the company owning 10.14 million shares as of the end of June, while David Shaw holds 11.56 million shares.
Aside from investors betting on the company, analysts also are optimistic on Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI). The majority of analysts that track the stock have given a ‘Buy’ rating, while the average target price amounts to $19.00. A couple of days ago, Barclays has upgraded its rating to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ and upped its price target to $22.00.
Disclosure: none
