Trading Places: This hedge fund manager lost $50m+ in Speedcast, but is punting it’ll rise again
News
News
In this week’s recap of substantial shareholders, IOOF and a UK hedge fund manager take a bet they’ll recoup their losses in Speedcast (ASX:SDA), Australian Ethical Investment buys a 16 per cent stake in Cogstate (ASX:CGS) and Taurus increases its stake in Hot Chili (ASX:HCH).
Substantial shareholders are shareholders holding 5 per cent or more of a company’s shares and these can be directors, individual investors or institutional investors.
Shareholders are required to announce to the exchange when they cross above or below the 5 per cent threshold and any change in their holdings while they remain above 5 per cent.
Recent share price crashes will have hit SpeedCast shareholders. One such shareholders is UK hedge fund manager Portsea Asset Management.
Portsea bought a 14 per cent stake in May for over $123m. With a share price of $2.03 now that’s only worth $69m. Ouch.
But this week it bought another 2 million shares (for around $4m) and now holds 15.02 per cent.
Another investor IOOF took a similar gamble despite having lost money. The Melbourne fund manager had just accumulated a 5 per cent stake before the crash – worth $42m, but that halved to $22m.
So what did it do? Doubled its holdings. IOOF now holds 10.7 per cent and twice as many shares – spending $28m.
Read More: Will satellite stock SpeedCast bounce back from its share price crashes?
IOOF also bought into DE.MEM (ASX:DEM) and Atomos (ASX:AMS), acquiring stakes of 7.7 per cent and 8.03 per cent respectively.
Australian Ethical Investment bought a 16 per cent stake in brain-focused medtech play Cogstate, buying $4m in stock. Recently Stockhead has been running a series of articles on ethical investing including input from fund managers with ethical ETFs.
Read More: Here’s how Vanguard thinks you should choose an “ethical” investment
You could argue Hot Chili only stood out among base metals explorers because of its name but not any more. In recent days the explorer has reported stunning mineral discoveries and Taurus Funds Management has bought another $680,000 – taking its stake to 13 per cent.
Regal Funds Management increased its stake in Visioneering Technologies (ASX:VTI) to 15.5 per cent. The optometry stock has seen a rapid decline over several months but appears to be rising again. The Phillip-King run fund manager bought another $2m in the company.
Speaking of London money managers, Jupiter Asset Management now owns 9.9 per cent of Sky Network Television (ASX: KT) after buying another $7m of stock. New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation also topped up its holdings – to 6.18 per cent, spending $5m.
Canadian fund manager Burgundy Asset Management increased its stake in iSelect (ASX:ISU) to 7.13 per cent and investor Matthew Latimore took his stake in Stanmore Coal (ASX:SMR) to 19.86 per cent.
Company | Code | Market Cap | Holder | Stake | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eureka Group Holdings | EGH | $61.0M | Salt Funds Management | 7.25% | Increasing |
Smart Marine Systems | SM8 | $6.2M | Schaffer Corporation | 6.28% | Becoming |
BTC Health | BTC | $21.0M | Richard & Karen Treagus | 9.40% | Increasing |
DE.MEM | DEM | $23.7M | IOOF | 7.70% | Becoming |
Speedcast | SDA | $412.4M | IOOF | 5.03% | Becoming |
Atmos | AMS | $168.7M | IOOF | 8.03% | Increasing |
Netlinkz | NET | $279.8M | Reef Investments | 7.05% | Becoming |
Musgrave Minerals | MGV | $24.0M | Westgold Resources | 16.78% | Increasing |
Eagle Mountain Mining | EM2 | $15.6M | Charles Bass | 42.36% | Increasing |
Clean Seas SeaFood | CSS | $76.0M | IFM Independent Fund Management | 7.22% | Becoming |
Genetic Technologies | GTG | $19.0M | Jimmy Thomas | 5.20% | Becoming |
Stemcell United | SCU | $10.3M | Jimmy Thomas | 5.00% | Becoming |
AdAlta | 1AD | $21.8M | Platinum Asset Management | 8.52% | Increasing |
Superior Lake Resources | SUP | $19.5M | Tribeca Investment Partner | 5.26% | Increasing |
Zenith Energy | ZEN | $80.6M | Pendal Group | 7.76% | Increasing |
Smart Marine Systems | SM8 | $6.2M | Paul Guilfoyle | 6.36% | Increasing |
Speedcast | SDA | $453.1M | IOOF | 8.69% | Increasing |
Matador Mining | MZZ | $22.6M | Grant Davey | 5.91% | Becoming |
SKY Network Television | SKT | $433.9M | Accident Compensation Corporation | 6.18% | Increasing |
Hot Chili | HCH | $41.7M | Taurus Funds Management | 13.20% | Increasing |
Tanga Resources | TRL | $2.6M | BPM Capital | 5.03% | Becoming |
Capricorn Metals | CMM | $135.8M | Clark Family Trust | 6.62% | Becoming |
Fiji Kava | FIJ | $5.6M | Great Southern Flour Mills | 7.17% | Increasing |
Stanmore Coal | SMR | $366.8M | Matthew Latimore | 19.86% | Increasing |
Speedcast | SDA | $412.4M | Portsea Asset Management | 15.02% | Increasing |
Elsight | ELS | $41.2M | Li Kwok Po David | 5.20% | Becoming |
Superior Lake Resources | SUP | $19.5M | Ilwella | 5.32% | Becoming |
Saunders International | SND | $32.5M | Naos Asset Management | 19.47% | Increasing |
Pivotal Systems | PVS | $90.8M | LHC Capital Partners | 14.17% | Increasing |
Visioneering Technologies | VTI | $24.0M | Regal Funds Management | 15.50% | Increasing |
Emerge Gaming | EM1 | $16.4M | VBS Exchange | 7.03% | Becoming |
Iselect | ISU | $149.3M | Burgundy Asset Management | 7.13% | Increasing |
Strategic Energy Resources | SER | $5.7M | Zhongming Hong | 8.25% | Becoming |
XPlore Wealth | XPL | $31.2M | Donald Sharp | 11.69% | Increasing |
Pacifico Minerals | PMY | $13.9M | Villiers Queensland | 13.25% | Increasing |
Cogstate | CGS | $24.2M | Australian Ethical Investment | 16.09% | Becoming |
SKY Network Television | SKT | $433.9M | Jupiter Asset Management | 9.90% | Increasing |
Back in March, Wilson Asset Management bought a 13 per cent stake in Yowie (ASX:YOW) and Keybridge Capital, worried it was making a play, successfully obtained an “unacceptable circumstances” declaration from the Takeovers Panel. ASIC has now sold a third of that stake, but still holds 8 per cent.
The two ‘sell outs’ occurred in Impedimed (ASX:IPD), with Uni Super selling its $253,000 stake, and At0mos, with Imagination Technologies selling its $10.5m worth of shares.
Among fund managers that ceased to be substantial but kept some holdings were Indus Capital Partners which reduced its stake in Speedcast to 3 per cent by selling $17m in shares. Also Pendal Group ceased to be a substantial holder in City Chic Collective (ASX:CCX).
Invesco still owns 10.52 per cent of industrial stock Cardno (ASX:CDD) but sold over $10m in shares in recent days.
Company | Code | Market Cap | Holder | Current Stake | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CoAssets | CA8 | $24.8M | Getty Goh Te-Win | 20.89% | Decreasing |
CoAssets | CA8 | $24.8M | Seh Huan Kiat | 16.77% | Decreasing |
Atmos | AMS | $168.7M | Imagination Technologies | 0% | Ceasing |
Fatfish Blockchain | FFG | $11.8M | Arena Investors | 9.01% | Decreasing |
Speedcast International | SDA | $412.4M | Indus Capital Partners | 3% | Ceasing |
Mach7 | M7T | $80.3M | Australian Ethical Investment | 4.65% | Ceasing |
Metals X | MLX | $161.9M | IOOF | 7.65% | Decreasing |
Speedcast International | SDA | $412.4M | Challenger | 10.41% | Decreasing |
Ausmex Mining Group | AMG | $48.0M | Bestvale Superannuation Fund | 4.99% | Ceasing |
Cardno | CDD | $406.5M | Invesco Australia | 10.52% | Decreasing |
Hub24 | HUB | $729.5M | Fidelity | 4.82% | Ceasing |
Impedimed | IPD | $51.3M | Uni Super | 0% | Ceasing |
Swick Mining Services | SWK | $54.4M | Rosanne Swick | 4.69% | Ceasing |
Atomos | AMS | $208.1M | Ellerston Capital | 9.86% | Decreasing |
City Chic Collective | CCX | $361.4M | Pendal Group | 4.45% | Ceasing |
Yowie Group | YOW | $17.0M | ASIC | 8.06% | Decreasing |
Eclipx Group | ECX | $490.0M | Vinva Asset Management | 4.95% | Ceasing |