Lemelson Capital Management

Lemelson Capital Management
Limited Liability Company
Industry Hedge Fund
Founded 2012
Headquarters Marlborough, Massachusetts, U.S.
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Emmanuel Lemelson, Chief Investment Officer
Products The Amvona Fund, LP
Website lemelsoncapital.com

Lemelson Capital Management is a global investment management firm based in the United States. It is the general partner of The Amvona Fund, LP, a hedge fund, and is managed by Emmanuel Lemelson, who is also a Greek Orthodox priest.[1] The company focuses on deep value and special situation investments.[2] Its activist position in several publicly traded companies has impacted their share prices.

History

Lemelson Capital Management was founded by Emmanuel Lemelson in September 2012.[3]

In March 2014 it made a short call on World Wrestling Entertainment, criticizing what it said were deficiencies in the company's executive management team and announcing that it was short WWE stock.[4][5][6] The report placed fair value of WWE shares (which closed that day at $30.37) between $8.25 and $11.88.[7] The market did not immediately react to the report. On May 15, a deal between WWE and NBC came in below expectations and the share price dropped to $11.27.[8] The following day Lemelson Capital announced that it had covered its short position and taken a stake in the company.[9][10] By September the stock had recovered to $15.[8]

On April 22, 2014, Lemelson Capital announced that it had been acquiring the stock of Kulicke & Soffa Industries and issued an open letter to the company's Chief Executive Officer calling on the company to initiate a tender offer for its shares, which Lemelson Capital said were substantially undervalued.[11][12] The stock surged ten percent on the announcement of Lemelson Capital's involvement.[13] Four months later, on August 27, 2014, Kulicke & Soffa announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a share purchase of up to $100 million.[14][15]

On June 16, 2014, Lemelson released a 25-page research report on Ligand Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, that concluded that severe competitive threats to Ligand's key royalty programs, going concern risks and other challenges were so significant that the stock had no intrinsic value.[16] Over the ensuing six trading days, the stock dropped 16 percent.[17][18][19] Three weeks later, on July 3, 2014, Lemelson announced that it had further increased its short position in Ligand and released an appended 12-page research report questioning the commercial viability of Ligand's products and reaffirming its position that downside risk for Ligand was "100%."[20] On August 7, 2014, the financial media outlet Benzinga reported, "Shares have sold off more than 25 percent since Lemelson Capital published its bearish thesis on the stock in mid-June."[21]

Fund performance

The Amvona Fund was cited three times as one of the world's top performing hedge funds by Barron's in 2013–14, and as the top "long bias" fund for August 2014 by the investment research firm BarclayHedge.[22]

In September 2014 the company reported overall gross and net gains since its September 2012 launch of 257 percent and 160 percent, respectively.[3]

References

  1. ↑ The Lantern Foundation official website, "Leadership.", Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  2. ↑ Articles by Emmanuel Lemelson, Seeking Alpha., Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Lemelson marks flagship fund's 2nd anniversary," The Metrowest Daily News, September 9, 2014, Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  4. ↑ "David Sims in Washington, Amvona Gets in Right on WWE, Steven Reiman on SA's Power," by Colin Lokey, Seeking Alpha, April 12, 2014., Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ "World Wrestling pummeled four out of five rounds this week," by Gary Strauss, USA Today, April 11, 2014, Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Short Case for World Wrestling Entertainment," Lemelson Capital Management, March 17, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Lemelson Capital Reaffirms Short Call on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE): Shares Fairly Priced Between $8.25 and $11.88," Lemelson Capital Management, April 9, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Lemelson takes down World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and brings it back up," by Joel Elconin, Benzinga, September 11, 2014, Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Lemelson Capital Management announces stake in World Wrestling Entertainment and calls on board to pursue new management or ownership," Seeking Alpha, May 16, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  10. ↑ "WWE's stock smackdown is a blow to Vince McMahon's credibility," "Breaking News," Seeking Alpha, May 17, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Kulicke and Soffa Industries: Large Cash Pile and Activist Involvement," by Alex Gavrish, ValueWalk, April 29, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Open Letter to Kulicke & Soffa's CEO," Seeking Alpha, April 22, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Kulicke & Soffa jumps; activist discloses stake, calls for buyback," Seeking Alpha, April 22, 2014, Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kulicke & Soffa heeds activist's call, launches buyback," by Eric Jhonsa, Seeking Alpha, August 27, 2014, Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Kulicke & Soffa Announces Repurchase Program," The Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2014, Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Bearish outlook for Ligand from Lemelson Capital," by Douglas W. House, Seeking Alpha, June 16, 2014, Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Money manager betting against biotech firm Ligand Pharmaceuticals," by Gary Strauss, USA Today, June 16, 2014, Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Shares of Ligand Pharma tick lower following word from Lemelson Capital Fund has initiated short position in stock," by Hal Lindon, Benzinga, June 16, 2014, Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Lemelson Capital makes short case against Ligand Pharma," Street Insider, June 16, 2014, Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Lemelson Ups Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Short," by VW Staff, ValueWalk, July 3, 2014, Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Exclusive: "Emmanuel Lemelson Talks Ligand Pharmaceuticals," by Luke Jacobi, Benzinga, August 7, 2014, Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Lemelson's Amvona Fund Tops BarclayHedge Performance List," ValueWalk, October 2, 2014, Retrieved October 7, 2014.

External links