I know nothing about Durus Capital, but it's interesting to note the srocks mentioned. The piece is from RealMoney.com, and I took it second hand from another site.
For those following the unfolding controversy over healthcare fund manager Scott Sacane and his Durus Capital Management, here's a list of his largest holdings, as of March when he last reported his positions. Of course, knowing what we know now, these positions are likely vastly different today.
Allos Therapeutics (ALTH) 5.2 million shares, or 20%; Vicuron Pharmaceuticals (MICU) 2.3 million shares, or 5%; Novoste (NOVT) 1.7 million shares, or 11%
Of course, we know now that Durus owns 70%, or 20 million shares in Aksys Ltd. (AKSY), even though its last reported holding from March was 5.3 million shares, or 18%.
Same with Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR). Today, it's disclosed that Durus owns 33%, up from 19% in March.
Sacane has reportedly said his increased holdings resulted from "inadvertent" purchases of stock. This explanation is being met with a lot of skepticism, of course. Another (scarier) explanation is that Durus Capital was allegedly playing a game of exteme mark up -- essentially buying up as much as stock as possible to corner the market, create artificial demand and drive the stock prices up. By doing this, Durus would allegedly boost the fund's performance artificially, and no one would know what was going on because the fund wasn't filing with the SEC.
As you can imagine, the stocks wrapped up in the story are getting hit today. Who knows where these stocks should actually trade. What a mess! |
