Billionaire investor Ken Griffin is placing a major bet on a company that’s far outperformed expectations this year.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel has acquired 3,824,329 shares of NioCorp Developments Ltd (NB), a company advancing critical minerals development in the United States.
NioCorp’s flagship project in Nebraska aims to produce rare earth minerals like niobium, scandium and titanium.
Citadel’s holdings of NB represent 5.4% of its total portfolio, and 5.2% of the total outstanding shares.
NB, with a market cap of just $229 million, is trading at $3.16 after opening the year at $1.41 in January – a gain of 124% so far.
Citadel’s positioning in the company appears to underscore a focus on the energy sector, given its recent win on Chevron’s $53 billion takeover of competitor Hess Corporation.
Citadel Advisors, Adage Capital and HBK Investments were part of a group of investors betting on the acquisition as part of a merger arbitrage strategy, which involves betting on the outcome of a merger or acquisition, typically by taking long and/or short positions in the stocks of the companies involved.
Citadel and HBK each had the equivalent of $1 billion in shares, according to the firms’ latest filings, says Bloomberg.
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