ESL Investments - Investor Profile
Primary Address: | Investor Information: |
| One Lafayette Place | Total AUM ($MM): | NA |
| Greenwich, CT 06830 | Equity AUM ($MM): | 12,270 |
| United States | Investment Style: | Value |
| Phone: 203-861-4600 | Orientation: | Active |
| Investor Type: | Hedge Fund Manager |
Institutional Investor Background
ESL Investments is a value focused hedge fund manager that was founded in 1988 by Edward 'Eddie' S. Lampert. Prior to founding ESL, Lampert worked on Goldman Sachs' risk arbitrage desk. The firm was originally seeded with capital from Richard Rainwater.
Eddward 'Eddie' Lampert is known to have carefully studied the investment strategies of Warren Buffet and has even been called the next Buffet by a number of major publications.
Eddie Lampert became Chairman of Sears Holdings following the March 2005 acquisition of Sears, Roebuck and Co. by Kmart Holding Corp. ESL Investments owns more than 40% of Sears.
ESL Investments is a private investment firm that manages several hedge funds, including RBS Partners, for wealthy investors. ESL Investments describes itself as an 'aggressive conservative' investor. The firm focuses on absolute returns in making investments and builds substantial positions in a few highly researched holdings.
The firm typically holds on to investments for a number of years and has at a given time only three to fifteen stocks.
Positions are generally greater than 5% of outstanding shares while ESL mainly invests in distressed or undervalued assets and often takes an activist role.
During its bottom-up research effort, ESL Investments seeks to do a few things well, namely:
-Understand the business
-Understand the people running the business
-Get safety from the price that they pay
In addition the firm seeks out a sound business plan, strong fundamentals, short-term industry or organizational downturns, and growth catalysts.
Investor Regional and/or Country Focus: North America, United States
Founders and Key Executives of ESL Investments: Eddie Lampert; William C. Crowley; Richard Rainwater*
Entities related to ESL Investments: ESL Institutional Partners; ESL Investments Inc; Kmart Holding Corp*; RBS Partners; Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD)
| Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies*; | Grant Capital Partners* | *Denotes that the person or entity is no longer related to the firm. **If you would like to submit investor updates, please click here. ***Relevant firms may include firms where founders previously worked, funds that were spun-off from the firm, funds that were seeded by the firm and/or unrelated firms that were founded by veterans of the fund. For specific details, please review the Investor Background sections for each firm of interest.
ESL Investments's Top 10 Equity Holdings (as of 2013-03-31)
|
Value |
|
|
|
| Company (Ticker) |
($MM) |
Shares |
Change |
% Out |
| Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD) |
1,691.79 |
33,856,069 |
-2,478,112 |
31.82 |
| AutoNation Inc (AN) |
1,375.69 |
31,444,341 |
-3,173,029 |
21.59 |
| Gap Inc (GPS) |
492.72 |
13,918,647 |
-402,330 |
2.85 |
| Genworth Financial Inc (GNW) |
83.83 |
8,382,562 |
-3,700,919 |
1.71 |
| iStar Financial Inc (SFI) |
9.40 |
862,803 |
-629,445 |
1.02 |
| Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (OSH) |
4.13 |
1,043,834 |
-139,273 |
17.40 |
| Capital One Financial Corp (COF) |
0.47 |
8,484 |
-836,609 |
0.00 |
| Autozone Inc (AZO) |
0.00 |
0 |
-2,866 |
0.00 |
| Safeway Inc (SWY) |
0.00 |
0 |
-844,926 |
0.00 |
| Big Lots Inc (BIG) |
0.00 |
0 |
-1,427,397 |
0.00 |
 |
|  | View Sample Report |
Articles Related to ESL Investments
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| Date: March 16th, 2012 |
| The latest Top 100 U.S. Equity Hedge Fund list has been released, revealing that many top hedge funds are showing signs of recovery after several tumultuous... |
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| Date: December 12th, 2011 |
| The Top 10 Hedge Funds saw their US Equity assets drop by an astounding $31.8 Billion, or -16.8%, during the third quarter of 2011. The precipitous drop... |
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| Date: June 8th, 2010 |
| Eddie Lampert, founder and CEO of ESL Partners LP, may have discovered a way to avoid higher taxes on hedge fund and private equity firms. According... |
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| Date: April 7th, 2010 |
| HedgeTracker has released its list of the largest US Equity Hedge Fund managers for 2009. The top hedge fund manager, David Shaw’s D.E. Shaw & Co,... |
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| Date: November 26th, 2009 |
| There were two reactions I got to my column last week on Greg Zuckerman's new book The Greatest Trade Ever about John Paulson's $20 billion bearish... |
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| Date: November 19th, 2009 |
| If it wasn't clear already that John Paulson had reached the zenith of his hedge fund profession, one only had to watch how fervently the media and blogosphere... |
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| Date: September 21st, 2009 |
| Paulson & Co, Adage Capital Partners, D.E. Shaw & Co and ESL Investments all saw their US equity assets jump by over $1 billion over the 2nd Quarter of... |
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| Date: September 11th, 2009 |
| Clearly, an article published in a late August Barron’s has struck a nerve with Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) Chairman and ESL Investments founder Edward... |
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