Meritage Group LP is a hedge fund based in San Francisco with a portfolio composed of 27 stocks and a total value of $4,125 Mil.
At the end of June, the hedge fund bought for the first time shares of Fifth Street Asset Management Inc. (FSAM). It bought 394,978 shares and now owns 6.6% of the company. The hedge fund has focused its buys in the Finance sector recently, and now this sector represents 23% of its US equities portfolio.
The Company is a holding company for Fifth Street Holdings. It is an alternative asset management firm. It provides financing solutions to small and mid-sized companies across their capital structure, in connection with investments by private equity sponsors. It also provides credit solutions across the capital structure, including one-stop financing, unitranche debt, senior secured debt, mezzanine debt, equity co-investments, healthcare asset-backed lending and venture debt financing.
It has a profitability and growth rated 5 out of 10, with returns that are ranked lower than 90% of other companies in the Global Asset Management industry. ROE is -158% while the industry has an average return of 6.14%; ROA is -6.66% and the average return on assets of the industry is 3.70.
The stock is trading at about $9.40 with a YTD negative performance of -32% (-30% over the last 5 years). The price is trading with a forward P/E ratio of 10.88 that is ranked higher than 62% of its competitors, and is currently priced -42.06% from its 52-week high and +8.69% from its 52-week low.
The company has a dividend yield of 5.04% that started to pay to its shareholders in March 2015.
At the end of Q1 2015, David Einhorn (Trades, Portfolio)’s Greenlight Capital, Inc. was the main Institutional holder of FSAM with 9.98% of outstanding shares, followed by Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC (9.97%) and Pine River Capital Management, L.P. (6.70%).
The company closed Q1 2015 with conflicting ratios when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Revenues increased by 4.6% but net expenses increased by 27.9%, so the quarter closed with a net income that decreased by 8.7% when compared to Q1 2014.
2015 Q2 started with the announcement of David A. Heilbrunn as new Managing Director as well as member of its management committee. He is responsible for growing FSAM’s business, mainly focusing on the expansion of its structured credit products platform. The new Managing Director has 27 years of experience in the business and he comes from The Carlyle Group L P (CG).
Leonard M. Tannenbaum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FSAM said, "David's knowledge about the middle market lending space, combined with his institutional relationships and structured products experience, make him a natural fit for the position” …… “I look forward to having David join the Fifth Street platform to expand and grow our existing structured products offering. We expect that David will help us execute on FSAM's strategic vision of continuing to build a leading, diversified credit-focused asset manager."
Regarding his new role, David said, "I am excited to join the Fifth Street platform and partner with an established management team with an eye towards growing and diversifying FSAM's existing product offerings," …… "I believe there is a significant opportunity to build upon Fifth Street's strong brand and leading sponsor-focused middle market origination platform to expand its institutional market presence both domestically and globally."
On May, FSAM announced that its affiliate, Fifth Street Management LLC served as administrative agent and lead arranger for a $171 million financing facility to support LegalZoom, Inc., the nation’s leading provider of online solutions for families and small businesses. The facility includes investments from Fifth Street Finance Corp (FSC) and Fifth Street Senior Floating Rate Corp. (FSFR) and it include the possibility to access an additional $75 million to fund future acquisitions.
