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.
[adinserter block="1"]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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