Thursday, July 07, 2016

Some KU6 Media Co.

The current M&A environment is very challenging so you have to be nimble and take what you can get. Today, I picked up some KU6 Media Co., LTD. (Ticker: KUTV) at $1.02 (~ 5% position). This is a thinly traded stock and I wasn’t able to build a full position. Anyways, this is one of those China going private plays that will be closing very soon. The buyout price is $1.03 ($1.08 minus the $0.05 ADR fee). The company recently filed to terminate the ADS program with an effective date of 07/11/16 (the last trading day). The potential net gain will be 0.98% (~ 39% annualized gain based on the cash hitting my account by 07/15/16). It’s not much, but it’s as close to free money as you can get…

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

June 2016 Performance

June was a strange month as you were near new highs and then Brexit hit the market. The positive for the month was the closing of the Nanosphere acquisition by Luminex. I guess there was one other positive…  the nice earnings report from Constellation Brands, which I continue to hang on for the long term. Those two pretty much sums up the positives for the month.

M&A continues to be challenging as I wait for several deals to close. I have built up a position in Qihoo 360 (Ticker: QIHU) and based on the guidance by the company, this deal should close by mid-August. I like the odds of this deal closing, but it is a China acquisition so there’s going to be some doubt.

I’m also involved in the Medivation (Ticker: MDVN) special situation play. I initially entered this position based on the hostility by Sanofi (Ticker: SNY), but as I learn more about this company I actually like it as a standalone basis. I wouldn’t mind if Sanofi walked as I agree with the company that there is significant value creation ahead by expanding the indication of Xtandi and its potential pipeline. So it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

That’s it for June…

2016 Performance Year to Date = +2.43% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January -5.47%
February -3.50%
March +7.51%
April +0.84%
May +6.34%
June -2.6%