13D
Eminence Capital sold a net 303,000 shares of chemicals giant Ashland, reducing its stake to 6.4 percent. The hedge fund headed by Ricky Sandler said it unloaded the shares “for portfolio management reasons.” The transactions, most of which were sales, took place from February 26 to April 23. Eminence had taken an activist stake in 2019 and Sandler sat on the board of the directors until 2023, when he chose not to stand for the position. Ashland remains Eminence’s largest U.S. listed common stock long position.
Irenic Capital Management boosted its stake in Reservoir Media by more than 18 percent. As a result, it now owns 7.3 percent of the shares of the independent music company. Reservoir is now the fourth largest U.S. listed long for the hedge fund firm. Irenic is also Reservoir’s second largest shareholder. Irenic added to its stake with a slew of purchases from March 6 through April 25 at prices ranging from roughly $7.23 to $8.30 per share. Adam Katz and Andy Dodge launched Irenic Capital in the summer of 2022. In 2023 Katz was named an Institutional Investor magazine Hedge Fund Rising Star.
Suvretta Capital Management disclosed a new stake of roughly 1.7 million shares of Benitec Biopharma, an Australian biotech company engaged in the development of gene-silencing therapies for the treatment of chronic and life-threatening diseases using DNA-directed RNA interference technology. Most of the shares were acquired in a private placement by the Averill Master Fund and the Averill Madison Master Fund, biopharma funds operating under the Suvretta umbrella. Benitec sold common stock valued at $40 million for $4.80 per share in the offering, which Suvretta led, according to a press release. Other participants included hedge fund Adage Capital Partners L.P., Nantahala Capital, multiple healthcare-focused funds, and a leading mutual fund, according to the announcement.
13G
Point72 Asset Management increased its stake in Avid Bioservices by more than five-fold. As a result, the hedge fund firm headed by Steven Cohen is now the sixth largest shareholder of the biologics contract development and manufacturing organization. However, Avid is an inconsequential position for Point72, which managed $32.3 billion as of January 1.
RA Capital Management disclosed it now owns 9.9 percent of Protara Therapeutics after acquiring 2.031 million shares. Prior to this the biopharma hedge fund firm only owned about 42,000 shares. Even so, it remains one of the firm’s smallest positions.
Cormorant Asset Management initiated a stake of 2.5 million shares, or 5.15 percent of TScan Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of T cell receptor (TCR) -engineered T cell therapies (TCR-T) for the treatment of patients with cancer.
Deep Track Capital established new positions in two separate companies. The biopharma specialist bought more than 714,000 shares of Korro Bio, or 7.7 percent of the total outstanding shares. The biopharmaceutical company is focusing on developing genetic medicines based on editing RNA for the treatment of rare and highly prevalent diseases. Korro is now Deep Track’s 26th largest U.S. listed long position.
Deep Track also disclosed in a separate filing that it has established a new position of nearly 2.6 million shares of Inovio Pharmaceutics, or 9.99 percent of the total shares. Even so the company focused on developing synthetic DNA products for treating cancers and infectious diseases is a very smart part of the hedge fund firm’s portfolio.
