ValueAct exits Morgan Stanley stake, trims other financial firms in Q1-filing

Insight Enterprises

18/05/2021 02:05

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
    BOSTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Investment firm ValueAct
liquidated its stake in Morgan Stanley  MS.N  and trimmed
holdings in Citigroup Inc  C.N , KKR & Co Inc  KKR.N  and SLM
Corp  SLM.O  in early 2021, pointing to a shift away from some
financial firms that it has owned for several years, a
regulatory filing released on Monday showed.
    ValueAct sold 8.2 million shares of U.S. bank Morgan Stanley
stock during the first quarter, exiting the remainder of an
investment it first told clients about in 2016. At that time
ValueAct said it owned 38 million shares worth $1.1 billion.
    At that time Morgan Stanley's stock traded around $30.55. At
the end of the first quarter 2021 it was at $77.66. 
    ValueAct in 2017 announced an investment in KKR. Mason
Morfit, who is now ValueAct's chief executive officer and chief
investment officer, said then that the stock price could climb
to $37 a share. 
    ValueAct cut its KKR holding by 16% during the first
quarter, selling 6.4 million shares, the filing showed. The firm
owned 31.6 million shares at the end of the quarter, and KKR's
stock price closed at $55.44 on Monday.
    The San Francisco-based investment firm also trimmed its
holding in Citigroup, an investment it announced in late 2017.
It cut its stake by 19% to 21.7 million shares at the end of the
first quarter. Earlier this year, Jane Fraser succeeded Michael
Corbat as Citi's CEO.
    The firm cut its holding in SLM Corp, which it has owned
since early 2018, by 18%, when it sold 6 million shares to own
26.3 million shares on March 31. 
    The so-called 13F filings show the U.S. stock holdings of
investment managers at the end of certain period. While the
disclosures are backward looking, they are closely watched for
clues about investment trends and what activist hedge funds
might be planning next.
    While ValueAct is considered an activist fund, it rarely
makes public demands and prefers to make suggestions behind the
scenes, often without having a board seat.
    It took new stakes in Insight Enterprises  NSIT.O , TopBuild
Corp  BLD.N  and OUTFRONT Media  OUT.N  during the first
quarter, the filing shows.

 (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
 ((svea.herbst@thomsonreuters.com; +617 856 4331; Reuters
Messaging: svea.herbst.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))