John Paulson Continues To Bet On Health Care And TV

You might remember John Paulson for his bets against subprime mortgages.

However, there’s much more to him than just that. Paulson manages Paulson & Company, a hedge fund that last disclosed an equity portfolio worth more than $19.6 billion, mainly allocated to healthcare stocks -- 42 percent of the total portfolio.

Healthcare

For three consecutive quarters, Shire PLC (ADR) SHPG has occupied the first spot in Paulson’s portfolio in terms of market value. His 8,328,304 shares are worth almost $2 billion and account for more than 10 percent of his total equity portfolio. The position remained unchanged over the first quarter.

Actavis plc ACT acquired Allergan, Inc. AGN in mid-March.At some point in the quarter, the fund got rid of all of its 6.37 million Allergan shares, much of which it had acquired over the previous quarter, betting on a merger.Meanwhile, the firm boosted its exposure to Actavis by 261 percent to 5,640,788 shares worth $1.67 billion. This makes it its second-largest stake, accounting for 8.55 percent of the total portfolio.

Covidien plc COV, which represented 5.31 percent of Paulson’s fourth quarter portfolio, was acquired by Medtronic in late-January. At some moment over the first month of the year, the firm disposed of its 10,047,500 shares.

Other Big Stakes

Paulson’s largest new purchase was American International Group Inc AIG. Over the quarter, the investor bought 14,603,200 shares, worth about $800 million.

Another non-healthcare stock in Paulson’s portfolio is Time Warner Cable Inc TWC. His 8.696 million shares position stands third in his list in terms of worth, valued at $1.3 billion.

DIRECTV DTV came in sixth. The firm’s 11.4 million shares were worth more than $970 million by the time of the filing and accounted for almost 5 percent of the total portfolio.