Viking Global leader Andreas Holversen disclosed a stake in Orion Acquisition Corp. (OHPAU, Financial) earlier this month, joining a growing number of investors who are seeing value opportunities in special purpose acquisition companies.
In addition to considering cyclical and secular industry trends, the guru's Connecticut-based hedge fund selects stocks based on its understanding of the business' fundamentals and management team. Halvorsen was a former protégé of Tiger Management's Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio).
According to GuruFocus Real-Time Picks, a Premium feature, Halvorsen invested in 3.6 million shares of the SPAC on the day of its initial public offering, giving it 0.10% space in the equity portfolio. The stock traded for an average price of $10.05 per share on the day of the transaction.
The blank-check company, which had its public debut on March 2, has a $425.54 million market cap; its shares were trading around $9.96 on Thursday.
The price chart shows the stock has fallen nearly 1% since its IPO.
As a SPAC, Orion Acquisition acts as a shell company that has no commercial operations but raises capital through a public offering in order to acquire or merge with another existing company that is seeking to go public. There were a record number of companies who chose this route, as opposed to a traditional IPO, in 2020, and the trend appears to be continuing.
While Orion may pursue a combination with any number of companies looking to go public, it noted in a filing that it intends to target opportunities in the health care space in the U.S. or other developed countries.
No other gurus are currently invested in the stock.
Portfolio composition and top holdings
Halvorsen's $36.37 billion equity portfolio, which was composed of 96 stocks as of the fourth quarter, is largely invested in the health care and technology sectors.
Viking Global's five largest holdings as of the end of the three months ended Dec. 31 were Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial), BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (BBIO, Financial), Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. (ADPT, Financial), Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS, Financial) and T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS, Financial).
Disclosure: No positions.
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