November Performance

November was one of those months where everything worked out, which makes me a bit nervous. Apple (Ticker: AAPL), Constellation Brands (Ticker: STZ), Visa (Ticker: V) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Ticker: VRTX) all made a positive contribution to the November performance. In addition, Scientific Games (Ticker: SGMS) closed on its acquisition of Bally Technologies in November, which also helped a bit. I continue to aggressively play the merger arb game as the spreads on many deals continue to look attractive.

Moving into December, I am involved in the following special situation plays: (1) Multimedia Games (Ticker: MGAM) – long common and short Puts, (2) Safeway (Ticker: SWY) – short Puts, (3) Lorillard (Ticker: LO) – long common and (4) Prosena (Ticker: RNA)– short Puts. I anticipate Multimedia Games and Safeway to close in December. Prosena should close early next year and Lorillard hopefully closes by the middle of next year. Currently doing some work on Baker Hughes (Ticker: BHI) as this is starting to look interesting with the recent collapse in the oil prices.

That’s it for now…

Performance Year to Date = +29.50% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January -0.67%
February +6.50%
March -2.69%
April -1.51%
May +7.30%
June +2.59%
July -1.46%
August +4.57%
September +2.02%
October +5.12%
November +7.73%