Some Axalta Coating Systems

It’s really boring sitting out there without a merger arb / special situations play. So today, I initiated a position in Axalta Coating Systems (Ticker: AXTA) at an average price of ~ $37.50 (~ 7.7% position). It looks like an all cash bid from Nippon Paint will occur shortly. I’ve seen price talk ranging from low to mid $40s so we will see…

October 2017 Performance

October was a mirror image of September as my larger holdings such as Apple (Ticker: AAPL), Constellation Brands (Ticker: STZ) and Visa (Ticker: V) came back to life. My short Puts in Kite Pharma finally expired after the successful acquisition by Gilead (Ticker: GILD). All in all, it was a positive month with the portfolio generating a net gain of 6.57%.

I am playing things relatively safe for now. I just entered into a merger arb play in Planet Payment, Inc. (Ticker: PLPM), which is being acquired by Fintrax Group for $4.50 in cash via a tender offer. This deal requires only a tender by the majority of shareholders. Management has already agreed to tender their shares representing 28% of the outstanding shares. The tender offer is expected to expire on 12/18. I was able to pick up a few shares of Planet Payment at $4.47 (~ 10% position), which will hopefully result in a net gain of 0.67% (~ 4.64% annualized return, assuming cash hits my account by 12/22).

Just trying to maintain the gains through the end of the year...

2017 Performance Year to Date = +42.51% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January -4.50%
February +10.18%
March +5.1%
April +4.34%
May +5.67%
June +1.34%
July + 2.76%
August + 4.81%
September + 0.48%

October + 6.57%