| Barry Rosenstein (Bloomberg) |
Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners posted a slight loss in March in what was a volatile month for broad market indexes as well as hedge fund managers.
Jana Partners and its related funds fell 0.4 percent last month. This trimmed their gains for the year to 1.4 percent.
Jana Nirvana Fund, a more aggressive fund that typically maintains higher exposures than the firm’s flagship funds, lost 0.5 percent in March and was up 2.3 percent for the first quarter.
Jana’s March results were better than the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which fell 1.74 percent, or 1.58 percent including dividends. The S&P 500 was up 0.44 percent for the quarter, or 0.95 percent with dividends. The Nasdaq Composite rose 3.48 percent for the quarter.
New York–based Jana, which manages about $11 billion, saw mixed results from its largest positions. Drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance, its largest holding at year-end, rose nearly 2 percent in March and 11 percent for the first quarter.
On the other hand, Jana’s second-largest holding, car rental company Hertz Global Holdings, fell 6 percent last month and 9 percent for the quarter.
Online auction giant eBay dropped slightly in March but managed to rise 2.7 percent for the quarter.
Specialty chemicals maker Ashland was flat for the month and up 6.2 percent for the year so far.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International was up less than 1 percent in March. However, it was perhaps Jana’s best performer for the quarter, surging some 37 percent after the acquisitive pharma company agreed to acquire Salix Pharmaceuticals for roughly $10 billion. William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management took a 4.9 percent stake in Valeant in March. Ackman teamed up with Valeant last year in a failed bid to buy Botox maker Allergan, which wound up agreeing to be acquired by Actavis instead. Valeant then moved on Salix instead.
Industrial distributor HD Supply rose 5.6 percent in March as well as for the quarter.
Last month Jana sold a 20 percent stake to Dyal Capital Partners, a Neuberger Berman unit that has been buying interests in hedge fund firms.
Meanwhile, Computer Sciences, which was a small position at year-end, lost 7 percent in March. Since the beginning of January, however, Jana nearly tripled its stake in the information technology services company, to 8.37 million shares — including options to purchase nearly 3.8 million more shares — or 5.9 percent of the total outstanding. We earlier reported Jana has held discussions with the company’s management and the board of directors regarding potential strategic alternatives and other matters.
Last year Jana Partners gained 3.7 percent, its worst performance since 2011, and its smallest profit in the 13 years since its 2001 launch, not including two years when it lost money. Jana Nirvana, launched in 2007, rose 5.8 percent last year, the only year it did not post a double-digit gain in years when it has made money.
