Paulson told investors last month that had it not been for bets on gold stocks, the event-driven Advantage fund would have been up 15 percent this year. The fund, which seeks to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies and has a portion invested in gold miners, rose 2.6 percent in 2013.
Paulson & Co. bought 1 million shares in Citigroup on the expectation the bank should benefit from a strengthening economy in the U.S., said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
In addition to Citigroup, the firm bought 17 million new shares of mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp. last quarter, according to the filing, which should also benefit from a U.S. economic recovery, the person said. The stake was valued at $84.2 million at the end of the quarter.
Mortgage Insurers
Paulson & Co. added 8 million shares of Radian Group Inc. to bring its stake to 11.6 million shares, valued at $123.7 million. Paulson said in a letter to clients obtained by Bloomberg News last month that he expects shares of mortgage insurers such as Radian to surge as the housing market recovers. Radian has gained 124 percent this year.
Paulson’s Recovery Fund, the firm’s best-performing strategy this year with bets on investments designed to benefit from a long-term economic advance, gained 22 percent in 2013 through April.
Paulson & Co. also newly purchased 5 million shares of Family Dollar Stores, the second-biggest U.S. dollar-store retailer.
The firm increased its stakes in Sprint, which made Paulson & Co. $300 million after Dish Network Corp. offered to buy the company, the person said, and Life Technologies, which earned the firm between $350 million and $400 million after Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. last month agreed to buy the company for $76 a share.
Sprint and Life Technologies are now the firm’s second- and third-largest stock holdings, ahead of AngloGold, with stakes valued at $1.44 billion and $954.8 million respectively.