Elliott Management Corp. bought $521.2 million worth of Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. common stock during the third quarter of 2021, representing an initial 4.08% stake in the company, based on Form 13F filings analyzed by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
In July, Santander Holdings USA Inc. announced that it will seek full ownership of Santander Consumer. Santander Holdings, a unit of Madrid-based Banco Santander SA, currently owns approximately 80% of Santander Consumer's outstanding common shares.
Santander Holdings USA launched an all-cash tender offer in September to acquire Santander Consumer shares it does not own for approximately $41.50, a 14% premium to the July 1 closing stock price of $36.43. The company has since extended the tender offer for a fifth time, setting the latest deadline to Nov. 24.
Santander Consumer's share price has increased 14.8% from June 30 to Sept. 30, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Aside from Santander Consumer, Elliott has initially invested $128.8 million in Citrix Systems Inc., $98.6 million in Healthcare Trust of America Inc., $70.5 million in Noble Corp., $63 million in Valaris Ltd., and $58.9 million in APA Corp. during the quarter.
In the third quarter, the hedge fund exited its positions in six companies, mainly in the technology, media and telecommunications sector, selling a combined $362.9 million worth of shares.
Elliott offloaded its 1.59% interest in Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. worth $115.5 million, after taking an initial interest in the second quarter. Shares of the entertainment company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange April 29.
The hedge fund also sold its less than 1% interests in Snap Inc., Dropbox Inc., Pinterest Inc., Trade Desk Inc. and H&R Block Inc., according to its filings.
The value of Elliott's common stock holdings grew to $8.70 billion as of Sept. 30, from $8.28 billion as of June 30. Its largest holding was still a 3.25% stake in Dell Technologies Inc., valued at $2.58 billion at the end of the third quarter.