The Fund also initiated a new short position in SiriusXM (SIRI, Financial). We have watched with curiosity (and mild frustration) as the market has valued Liberty SiriusXM (LSXMA, Financial) a holding company whose only significant asset is 71% of Sirius XM’s outstanding stock) at an increasing discount to Sirius XM’s public float. The pair trade (long Liberty SiriusXM, short SiriusXM) allows us to hedge a portion of our economic exposure to SiriusXM while capturing the full benefit should the discount narrow (as we anticipate). These actions result in a short exposure equal to 19% of net assets at year end, slightly higher than the 17% short to start the year (but below the 30% short at the end ofQ3 2018, ahead of the Q4 2018 stock market sell-off).
From Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio)'s Partners III Opportunity Fund fourth-quarter 2019 commentary.
