Soros Fund Cut Stakes In Citi, Wells Fargo, Monsanto - Filing
August 15 2011 - 6:41PM
Dow Jones News
Billionaire investor George Soros's hedge fund reported lower
stakes in big banks Citigroup Inc. (C) and Wells Fargo & Co
(WFC) and slashed its ownership in Monsanto Co. (MON), a former top
holding, according to a regulatory filing late Monday.
In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Soros decreased his holdings of Citigroup by nearly 2.9
million shares to 64,600 at the end of the second quarter. The
stake is now valued at $2.7 million. Citi exercised a 1-to-10
reverse stock split in May.
The fund also cut its stake in Wells Fargo by 3.4 million shares
to 77,700, valued at $2.2 million at June 30.
Soros reduced his stake in Monsanto by 2.6 million shares to
79,400. The position is now valued at $5.8 million.
The overall value of Soros's stock holdings fell to $7.1 billion
at the end of the second quarter, down from $8.4 billion as of
March 31.
In purchases during the quarter, Soros reported a higher stake
in Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI), a company that split with
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI)--the target of a $12.5
billion bid by Google Inc. (GOOG)--at the beginning of the year.
Soros's ownership in Motorola Solutions climbed to 5.7 million
shares valued at $261 million as of June 30. The position is now
the fund's fourth-largest holding. The fund also disclosed call
options on 357,300 shares of Motorola Solutions.
In another sign of his reported retreat from gold, Soros
reported selling mining company NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG, NG.T).
The fund already had been paring back its stake in the precious
metal in the first quarter.
Soros, who once famously dubbed gold "the ultimate asset
bubble," was one of several big money managers who loaded up on
gold, silver and other metals over the past two years amid weakness
in the U.S. dollar. In May, however, The Wall Street Journal said
Soros and some other leading investment firms sold gold and other
metal stocks.
Monday's report from Soros comes nearly a month after reports
that he decided to turn his hedge fund into a $24.5 billion "family
office," in a move that allows it to avoid a new level of
regulatory oversight facing many hedge funds.
Soros told clients that his firm, Soros Fund Management LLC,
will no longer manage outside investors' money.
Many investors that manage more than $100 million are required
to file with the SEC Form 13-Fs disclosing their stock holdings
within 45 days of the end of a given quarter, giving the public its
freshest possible glimpse into the portfolios of well-known money
managers. The second-quarter deadline was Monday.
-By Brett Philbin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2173;
brett.philbin@dowjones.com
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