Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Sold Baxalta

I took off my position in Baxalta (Ticker: BXLT) today at $39.26 and essentially breaking even on the trade. I just wanted to reduce my risk a bit with the pre-merger plays and also raise a bit of cash as year-end approaches. I still believe that this deal will likely materialize…

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Some Baxalta

I initiated a position in Baxalta (Ticker: BXLT) (3.78% position) at $39.23. Reuters and the Financial Times have pieces out suggesting that a deal with Shire (Ticker: SHPG) may finally materialize. The price talk that I’ve seen range from $45 to $50, which is a decent premium from the current price. This deal reminds me of Genzyme when it was forced to sell to Sanofi (Ticker: SNY) when no other bidders showed up.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Altera = Done Deal

It’s nice to see that MOFCOM finally approved Intel’s (Ticker: INTC) acquisition of Altera (Ticker: ALTR). This deal is scheduled to close on December 28th and I anticipate the cash to hit my account by December 30th. I was starting to worry that this could drag out to February. With Altera I was able to generate a net gain of 7.16% (annualized gain of 22.82%). So far December is looking ok with several deals closing such as Integrated Silicon Solution and WuXi Pharmatech.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Heartland Payment Systems = Finally Paying Off

Global Payments (Ticker: GPN) finally announced the acquisition of Heartland Payment Systems (Ticker: HPY). Global Payments is offering 0.6687 of Global Payments and $53.28 in cash. I really really like this deal and intend to hang onto the Global Payment stock when the deal closes. I can see lots of synergies from this deal and looking forward in seeing Global Payments march higher over the long term.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Some Dyax and Heartland Payment

I finally finished building a full position in Dyax (Ticker: DYAX) (~ 18% position) at an average price of $36.82. The play on Dyax right now is to acquire the CVRs on the cheap. The $4.00 payout from the CVR will be based on FDA approval by December 31, 2019 for their lead product DX-2930, which will be used for the prevention of type 1&2 HAE. I believe the company has a good shot in getting this drug approved by FDA prior to December 31, 2019. The phase 1 results were very good and the company is moving to initiate a phase 3 trial by the end of this year. We’ll see how this plays out in a few years…

 I took a stab today at Heartland Payments (Ticker: HPY) at $88.24 (~8.6% position). Bloomberg is reporting that Global Payments (Ticker: GPN) is in talks to acquire Heartland Payments. The market certainly likes this news as the stock of both companies shot up on the news. I really like this sector as the combination of these two companies makes perfect sense. In this space, building transaction volume is everything.

Monday, December 07, 2015

Integrated Silicon Solution = Done Deal

Integrated Silicon Solution (Ticker: ISSI) is finally a done deal. I’ve been gradually reducing this position and using the proceeds to build onto Dyax (Ticker: DYAX). The remaining position in Integrated Silicon Solution makes up ~ 10.7% of my portfolio. I anticipate the cash from Integrated Silicon Solution will hit my account by December 11th, which translates to a net gain of 1.92% (~ 32% annualized gain).

During the past week I’ve increased my position in Dyax to ~ 10.5% from ~ 5% to take advantage of the CVR. I will continue to add to this position at the right price… I also initiated a short Put position in Dyax to generate some income along the way, but the main focus is getting more of those CVRs on the cheap.

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Dyax FTC Approval

I certainly was not expecting this news so soon… “Dyax Corp. (Ticker: DYAX) Announces Early Termination of Hart-Scott-Rodino Waiting Period.” I was baking in a second request and watch this drag out. I really like this little thank you from Dyax’s press release: “Dyax appreciates the FTC’s cooperation and its prompt review.” Anyways a nice early Christmas gift!

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

November 2015 Performance

November was really a fine tuning month for my arb plays. I exited my equity position in BioMed Realty Trust (Ticker: BMR) and added to WuXi Pharmatech (Ticker: WX) (~ 39% position). Yes, I pretty much went all in on WuXi Pharmatech, but I really like the odds of this closing in December. I also added back to my position in Integrated Silicon Solution (Ticker: ISSI) (~17% position). Integrated Silicon Solution received all of the required regulatory approvals and is anticipating to close by December 10th.   

My remaining arb positions remain unchanged with Dyax (Ticker: DYAX) (5.1% position), Rite Aid (Ticker: RAD) (2.3% position) and Altera (Ticker: ALTR) (9.7% position). I also have some short Put positions on Altera, AirMedia Group (Ticker: AMCN), BioMed Realty Trust, Integrated Silicon Solution, WuXi Pharmatech and Yoku Tudou (Ticker: YOKU). That pretty much sums up my arb positions… I’m looking forward to closing out some of these arb plays in December and focus on some new ideas in the New Year. 

2015 Performance Year to Date = +32.63% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January +3.4%
February +7.03%
March -0.33%
April +0.39%
May +5.59%
June -1.2%
July +5.48%
August -0.89%
September -4.89%
October +12.90%
November +2.28%