Lemelson Capital Management

Lemelson Capital Management
Limited Liability Company
Industry Hedge Fund
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 United States-based global investment management company founded in 2012 by Emmanuel Lemelson who is also a Greek Orthodox priest. The company is the general partner of The Amvona Fund, LP, a hedge fund that as of late 2015 managed around $20 million.

The company has focused on deep value and special situation investments. Within three years of its launch it had reported a net gain of 150%.

Management

Since its inception, Lemelson Capital has been managed by its chief investment officer Father Emmanuel Lemelson, who is also a Greek Orthodox priest. Since 2014 Lemelson has publicised the hedge fund by means of press releases and interviews under the provisions of the JOBS Act,[1] one of a minority of hedge fund managers who had chosen to do so.[2]

Hedge fund performance

The Amvona Fund, LP, is a hedge fund that was launched in September 2012, and as of late 2015 manages around $20 million.[3] In July 2013 and October 2013, Barron's named the it the best performing hedge fund in the world for those months.[4][5] Barron's listed it again, as the world's second best performing hedge fund for April 2014. By mid 2015 the company reported a net return since its launch of 150 percent.[6]

In October 2014, the firm announced that The Amvona Fund had been named the world's top "long bias" fund for August 2014 by the investment research firm BarclayHedge.[7] A year later, the Amvona Fund had ceased reporting its performance to BarclayHedge, which Forbes writer Antoine Gara characterized as a "concerning development".[8]

Investments and activism

World Wrestling Entertainment

In Mar 2014 Lemelson Capital Management (LCM) announced that it was short World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE:WWE) (then trading at new highs of over $30/share). Lemelson issued reports explaining why he thought the company was overvalued and placed fair value of WWE shares between $8.25 and $11.88.[9] By May 2014 the WWE share price had fallen to around $11 and LCM announced that it had covered its short position and bought shares at the low price.[10] In Feb 2015, LCM announced that it had sold its stake in WWE at $16.50.[11]

Kulicke & Soffa Industries

On April 22, 2014, Lemelson Capital announced that it had been acquiring the stock of Kulicke & Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) 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 said were substantially undervalued.[12][13] The stock rose ten percent on the announcement of Lemelson Capital's involvement.[14] 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.[15]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals

On June 16, 2014, Lemelson released a 25-page research report on Ligand Ligand Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded company, that concluded there were severe competitive threats to Ligand's key royalty programs, as well as going concern risks, and other challenges so significant that the stock had no intrinsic value.[16] 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.[17] 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."[18] On November 18, 2014, Benzinga reported that the firm had covered its short position at an approximately 40 percent return.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Keidan, Maiya (25 September 2014). "Who wants to be an SEC Target?". HFMweek. p. 20. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Much Confusion Surrounds JOBS Act Filings". Hedge Fund Alert. August 13, 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Copeland, Rob (October 28, 2015). "Hedge-Fund Priest: Thou Shalt Make Money". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 December 2015. (Subscription required)
  4. ↑ "Barron's Names Lemelson Fund as April's Top HF," Evestment, May 28, 2014, Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Lemelson Capital Management Again Ranks Among World's Top Performing Hedge Funds," HedgeCo.net, March 28, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  6. ↑ Lemelson, Emmanuel (August 5, 2015). "The Amvona Fund, LP 1H 2015 Partnership Letter". Lemelson Capital Management. p. 1. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "Business Digest for October 7, 2014," The MetroWest Daily News, October 7, 2014, Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  8. ↑ Antoine Gara (October 27, 2015). "The WSJ's Hedge Fund Priest Has A Terrible Trade Under His Robe". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The Short Case for World Wrestling Entertainment," Lemelson Capital Management, March 17, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Lemelson takes down World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and brings it back up," by Joel Elconin, Benzinga, September 11, 2014, Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Smack down at World Wrestling Entertainment," by Gary Strauss, USA Today, March 30, 2015, retrieved May 30, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Kulicke and Soffa Industries: Large Cash Pile and Activist Involvement," by Alex Gavrish, ValueWalk, April 29, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Open Letter to Kulicke & Soffa's CEO," Seeking Alpha, April 22, 2014, Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kulicke & Soffa jumps; activist discloses stake, calls for buyback," Seeking Alpha, April 22, 2014, Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Lemelson commends Kulicke and Soffa on repurchase," The MetroWest Daily News," August 29, 2014, Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Bearish outlook for Ligand from Lemelson Capital," by Douglas W. House, Seeking Alpha, June 16, 2014, Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: LGND): Appendix," Lemelson Capital Management, Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Exclusive: "Emmanuel Lemelson Talks Ligand Pharmaceuticals," by Luke Jacobi, Benzinga, August 7, 2014, Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Lemelson Capital Management CIO Discusses Ligand Pharmaceuticals Prior To Company Issuing Weak Guidance," by Jayson Derrick, Benzinga (Yahoo Finance), November 18, 2014, retrieved May 30, 2015.

External links

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