Chidem Kurdas
Will JP Morgan’s $26 billion hedge fund business Highbridge Capital gain from the housing recovery with its stake in Beazer Homes?
Beazer, a builder of single- and multi-family houses, last year launched a business to acquire and rent out previously owned homes. The stock is up around 94% in the past 12 months. It stands to benefit if there is stronger growth in demand for housing.
But some analysts regard the company as a laggard and recommend selling. Recently Beazer announced a reverse split of its stock.
Highbridge owns convertible notes worth 5.26% of common stock in Beazer. When the investment was initiated last year, it was a 5.04% holding.
The fund manager, overseen by co-founder Glenn Dubin, could use a boost. Returns on the whole have been lackluster and Highbridge has not done as well in raising capital via JP Morgan as might be expected. In the past year or so several executives left Highbridge—thus HedgeFundAlert reported that deputy chief financial officer Bill Bulmer moved to a family office.
Tags: Beazer Homes, Glenn Dubin, HedgeFundAlert, Housing recovery, JP Morgan Chase
HedgeFundSmarts 
January 17, 2013 at 12:27 pm
[…] year we reported that Highbridge bought convertible bonds issued by Beazer Homes, a residential builder which also acquires and rents out previously owned homes. The funds […]