Paul Touradji has moved over 80% of the equity portion of his commodities-focused hedge fund’s portfolio into gold, according to Touradji Capital’s third quarter 2009 SEC filing. The firm opened a $84.67mm / 2,234,000 share position in Barrick Gold Corp (ABX) over the quarter, while dumping the $11.49mm / -126,000 share holding it had previously held in the streetTRACKS Gold Trust (GLD). The hedge fund also sold out of its iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Index Fund (IEO) position, selling $1.61mm / 39,200 shares.

As of 9/30/2009, the firm held 85% ($89mm) of its US equity portfolio in basic materials/gold stocks. The rest of its portfolio was allocated to the energy sector (12% or $13mm), Industrials (1% or $1mm) and Financials (<1% or $500,000). Touradji Capital’s top holdings include:

Pershing Square Capital Management, which is run by shareholder activist Bill Ackman, revealed Friday that it has increased its position in Landry’s Restaurant Inc. (LNY) to 4,008,387 shares or 24.8% of the company’s shares outstanding. Pershing Square’s position includes 1,604,255 common shares as well as an additional 2,404,126 shares that are controlled under certain cash-settled total return swaps.

On the 13th of November, Pershing Square disclosed that it held an aggregate interest in 23.4% of Landry’s shares out. According to last week’s HFS Catalyst Investment Research Report, the hedge fund manager opposes a previously announced management buyout led by Landry’s Chairman for $14.75 per share.

Ramius Capital's most recent portfolio holdings reveal that the hedge fund manager has shifted its portfolio focus to drug manufacturers. The firm’s exposure to US Equity as of June 30th was $366mm, which is down from $788mm at the end of last year. Of the $136.41mm in added positions over the second quarter, $92.62mm was spent by Ramius Capital on healthcare giants Wyeth (WYE) and Schering Plough (SGP). At the same time, the hedge fund dumped its ETFs and opted for investing in individual equities, selling out of its entire $44.21mm of SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) as well as $22.58mm of SPDR Energy Sector (XLE). Overall, the hedge fund sold $92.54 in ETFs over the quarter.

Heeding the widespread call for future rebounds in commodity prices, the firm opened two new oil company positions and a coal company position. Also in line with the rest of the firm’s portfolio, two new information technology companies were added. The largest newly opened positions include:

Maverick Capital's most recent portfolio holdings reveal that the long/short orientated hedge fund bought up Computer Hardware, Drug and Banking companies over the 2nd Quarter of 2009, while dumping Telecom, Big Box Retailer and Communication Equipment companies.

Maverick's exposure to US traded equities rose by $915mm over the quarter, ending at $6,444mm. The firm, one of the US’s largest and most revered hedge fund managers, was founded in 1990 by Lee S. Ainslie and Evan, Sam, and Charles Wyly. Before starting Maverick Capital, Mr. Ainslie was a managing director at Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management Corporation. When evaluating companies, the firm typically looks for a combination of value and growth characteristics.

Hedge fund manager Greenlight Capital sold out of a number of positions over the second quarter of 2009. Overall, the firm made purchases of $417mm, while selling $1,148mm, for a net change of $730mm.

Since there seemed to be no broad trends regarding Greenlight Capital’s investments over the quarter, it is clear the firm screened equity investments on a company by company basis. The four new purchases made over the quarter include two insurers, a healthcare company, and a natural gas producer:

BP Capital Management’s second quarter SEC filing shows that the hedge fund manager is focusing solely on energy companies these days. While the firm’s founder and Chief Investment Officer T. Boone Pickens has been publically supporting clean energy technologies, his stock portfolio suggests that he is still a strong believer in dirty energy. After selling-out of its basic materials sector holdings, the fund now holds 100% of its portfolio in the energy sector, specifically oil and natural gas companies.

BP Capital’s top holding, offshore oil drilling and exploration company Transocean Inc (RIG), was trimmed over the quarter by 125,000 shares / $9.2mm. Even after the share sales, the company still accounts for 22.6% of the hedge fund’s portfolio, representing $26.7mm or 360,000 shares. The firm’s other top 5 positions included:

Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management bought up equities over the second quarter of 2009, according to the most recent portfolio holdings of the global macro orientated growth investor. Overall, the hedge fund manager’s exposure to US traded equities rose to $1,158 million as of 6/30/2009 from just $510 million as of 3/31/2009.

Moore Capital’s largest purchase was a new $274.3mm / 7,150,000 share position in the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI) ETF, which invests in the top 25 largest companies in the China equity market that are available to international investors. The other Chinese equity position in the firm’s portfolio was energy giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp “Sinopec” (SNP). In Sinopec, the firm trimmed its position by 40,000 shares over the second quarter, resulting in an quarter end position of $9.9mm / 130,000 shares.

Last week HedgeTracker.com released its list of Top Solar-Focused hedge funds by percentage of assets. This week we look at the top hedge funds based on their total investment in the solar sector. The only hedge fund to make both of HedgeTracker’s lists is Partner Fund Management.

The top solar hedge fund investor is Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital. Mr. Ainslie is a “Tiger Cub,” or a former protégé of Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. As of Q1 ’09, the fund had $180.33mm of its $5,529mm, or 3.26% of its portfolio, invested in solar. However, the firm is not necessarily a believer in the solar sector overall, as the firm’s solar exposure is entirely concentrated in First Solar Inc. (FSLR) with 1,358,902 shares. Notably, over the first quarter, the firm purchased $85.29mm or 642,756 shares of FSLR.

Hedge fund manager Manikay Partners’ portfolio reveals that the firm has been favoring healthcare, while dumping financials. Over the first quarter of 2009, Manikay purchased approximately $70million in healthcare stocks, while selling over $40 million in financial companies.

Manikay Partners was founded in 2008 by Managing Partner Shane Finemore with backing from Goldman Sachs (GS). Prior to founding the firm, Mr. Finemore was in charge of the fundamental investment group in UBS’s investment banking division. Manikay employs an opportunistic investment strategy that has a global long-bias. An analysis of the firm’s recent US portfolio holding reveals that the firm is an active trader as 17 out its total 23 holdings were purchased over Q1 2009, while 13 positions were completely sold.

HedgeTracker.com has released its latest list of Top Solar-Focused hedge funds, and the Q1 2009 list includes a few newcomers: Partner Fund Management, Cavalry Asset Management and Prescott Group Capital Management. The funds selected for the list had the greatest percentage of their US equity assets under management invested in US-listed Solar Stocks as of 3/31/09 (see complete list of stocks below).

On Friday, private equity firm Thoma Bravo raised its offer for information technology firm Entrust (NASDAQ: ENTU) by 8.1% to $124 million in an effort to underline Thoma Bravo's "strong commitment to the transaction."

According to the Wall Street Journal, in response to the new offer, the company decided to postpone the vote to approve the merger from July 10th to July 28th. On Friday, shares of Entrust went up 7.65% as investors cheered the revised offer.

On Wednesday of last week, CPI Corporation (NYSE:CPY) announced that preliminary results show that its shareholders overwhelmingly voted for the company’s slate of board nominees. Ramius Capital Group, an activist hedge fund manager, had nominated two of its own representatives for board positions.

Pershing Square Capital Management’s Bill Ackman recently sent out his quarterly letter to the hedge fund firm’s investors. Over the first quarter of 2009, his funds all managed to post positive gains net of fees, handily outperforming the S&P 500 and DOW, which were down 11% and 12.4%, respectively.

While the principal objective of the Target proxy contest was to maximize the value of our investment in Target, we believe the follow-on impact of the contest will lead to board governance improvements at other companies as boards examine their practices to determine whether they are at risk to shareholder scrutiny and potential future challenges.

Disclosure: No positions

Earlier this month, CEO Peter Schoenfeld of P. Schoenfeld Asset Management claimed a victory in his proxy battle with Saks Incorporated (SKS). In an effort to bolster transparency and improve the department store’s corporate governance practices, the hedge fund successfully persuaded shareholders to endorse the New England Carpenter’s Pension Fund proposal to declassify the names of Saks board members and adopt a majority voting standard. The victory, acknowledged by estimates provided by proxy solicitation firm Mackenzie Partners Inc, would essentially remove the staggered board form in order to provide a more accountable board structure. It would also require Saks board members to attain a majority 50% rather than the prior plurality vote structure in order to win election.

Sell-side analysts have also applauded the results of the proxy battle. Yesterday, Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher Jr. responded by upgrading Saks Inc. stock from “Hold” to “Buy” with a $7 target. Dreher believes that greater upward trends in the macro-economy will boost consumer spending to recoup losses incurred over the past year in the consumer goods sector. Alongside cost cutting measures at Saks, he believes the increased demand will provide greater profits due to higher margins and greater revenue generation, respectively.

Continuous calls for a stronger board of directors with deeper financial experience at Bank of America (BAC) were answered on Friday when the bank announced it had replaced four of its directors. Shareholder activists and the US Government have been highly critical of the board’s lack of oversight and direction, especially with regards to the controversial Merrill Lynch acquisition. Many of the board members were criticized for their lack of appropriate expertise and for their closeness to beleaguered CEO Ken Lewis.

Mr. Lewis was stripped of his Chairman of the Board title in April at the company’s annual shareholder meeting after influential proxy advisory firms, CalSTRS, Iron Fire Capital and longtime shareholder Jerry Finger created a united front to oust him from having dual roles.

Last week it was announced that activist investors Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital Management had successfully elected Dr. Alexander J. Denner and Dr. Kathleen Behrens, respectively, to the board of directors of Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN). On Tuesday, the activists received even more good news when they learned that among the two directors who lost their seats was Joseph C. Cook, Jr., Amylin's Chairman. Industry analysts expect the activist investors to use their new power to influence and alter the strategic direction of the company.

Throughout the heated proxy contest, Mr. Icahn had been very critical of Mr. Cook and had called for his resignation. Mr. Cook has been the Chairman of the Board since March 1998 and currently serves as chair of the company’s Finance Committee. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Amylin from March 1998 until September 2003.

Boston-based Raptor Global Funds announced Tuesday in a letter to investors that it was closing shop. The firm was formed in January of this year when James Pallotta spun-off from Tudor Investments with Tudor's Raptor Global and Altar Rock hedge funds. Mr. Pallotta had been vice chairman and managing director of the Raptor funds at Tudor. After the spin-off, Mr. Pallotta’s team continued to sub-manage an equity portion of Tudor's main BVI Global Fund. The letter gave no indication of who will manage those assets after Raptor’s liquidation.

With proxy season in full throttle this past week, many of the most heated shareholder activist battles experienced major developments. The biggest activist hedge fund winners of the week were Steel Partners, Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital Management, while the biggest losers were Bill Ackman of Pershing Square and Millbrook Capital. Below is recap for all the biggest developments of last week.

• Eastbourne Capital Management
• Icahn Associates
• Millbrook Capital (MMI)
• Pershing Square Capital Management
• Steel Partners

Disclosure: No positions

Pequot Capital Management, a highly successful and well-regarded hedge fund manager, announced yesterday that it was closing down amid on-going investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a letter yesterday to Pequot’s investors, the firm’s founder Art Samberg stated:

As you know, my trading in 2001 on behalf of the Core Funds has been the subject of investigations by the SEC and US Attorney's Office. Those agencies closed their investigations in 2006 without bringing any charges, but Pequot nonetheless suffered from adverse publicity. In late 2008, the government reopened its investigation. Public disclosures about the continuing investigation have cast a cloud over the firm and have become a source of personal distraction. With the situation increasingly untenable for the firm and for me, I have concluded that Pequot can no longer stay in business as an investment advisor.

In a letter on Monday to the shareholders of Saks Incorporated (SKS), hedge fund manager Peter Schoenfeld called for corporate governance improvements at the troubled department store.

Mr. Schoenfeld is the CEO of P. Schoenfeld Asset Management (PSAM), which owns 2,137,265 shares of SKS, representing approximately 1.5% of the company’s shares outstanding.