George Soros’s family office heavily shook up its portfolio in the fourth quarter.
Three of the four largest U.S. common stock longs held by the legendary investor’s Soros Fund Management were newly established in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to its latest 13F filing, made public on Monday.
For example, shares of Horizon Therapeutics, a drug company that focuses on people impacted by rare and rheumatic diseases, is its largest U.S. common stock long, after the family office acquired more than 2.8 million shares in the fourth quarter.
In December, Horizon agreed to be acquired by Amgen in a deal valued at roughly $26.4 billion. It’s not known whether Soros acquired the shares when they were trading in the $60s earlier in the quarter, or as a merger arbitrage play after the deal was announced.
Soros also made a new big bet on the iShares iBoxx $ Inv Grade Corporate Bond ETF, now its third-largest U.S.-listed common stock long. The fund aims to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index, which is a rules-based index consisting of liquid, U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds for sale in the U.S.
The Soros family office also took a large new position in bank holding company First Horizon, now its fourth-largest common stock long.
Meanwhile, Altra Industrial Motion, a manufacturer of mechanical power transmission products such as brakes, clutches, and couplings, is now Soros’s seventh-largest long, after the family office initiated a position in the fourth quarter.
In addition, Soros also made a big bottom-fishing bet on the “A” shares of Google parent Alphabet, boosting its stake by nearly three quarters. It is currently Soros’s fifth-largest U.S. common stock long.
Soros’s second-largest long is electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive, which it initially acquired when the company was private. Soros reduced its stake by 12 percent in the fourth quarter, and in the four quarters since Rivian went public in November 2021, Soros has reduced its stake by more than 27 percent, to a little more than 14.3 million shares.
Soros also liquidated several previously sizable positions.
It fully unloaded its stakes in drug giant Biohaven Pharmaceutical and industrial real estate company Duke Realty Corp., Soros’s second- and third-largest U.S.-listed common stocks, respectively, at the end of the third quarter.
It also fully liquidated its position in investment holding company Alleghany Co., the family office’s sixth-largest long at the end of the third quarter.
