Keith Meister’s Corvex Management placed a big new bet on drugmaker Catalent , among other moves in an active quarter for the fund manager. Corvex, often known as an activist investor, took a new position in Catalent amounting to some $246 million, making the stock the fund’s second largest holding as of the end of June, according to the latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Catalent, a pharmaceutical company based in Somerset, New Jersey is underperforming in 2023 rising less than 1% against the S & P 500’s. While the S & P 500 is higher this year by 16%, Catalent is up by just 0.4%. The fund also has a new position in Knife River , a construction materials and contracting company, leading to a $110.3 million holding. It’s the seventh largest position in the fund and likely the result of a spin-off. In June, Knife River spun off from MDU Resources , which is the third largest holding in Corvex. Knife River is up more than 17% this quarter. MDU Resources is up by about 1.7%. Other new positions were taken in Adobe Systems and World Wrestling Entertainment. Meister was a protege of corporate raider Carl Icahn and was previously CEO of the billionaire’s firm. While Corvex does not have a specific sector focus, it does have the most exposure to utilities. Corvex doubled down on Southwest Gas, a utility servicing customers in parts of Arizona, California and Nevada. The activist fund doubled down on the stock, increasing his stake by 125% to about $131.1 million. That’s the fifth-largest holding in the portfolio. Meanwhile, Meister lowered his exposure to other utilities such as Constellation Energy and Algonquin Power, by 59% and 31%, respectively. They remain his ninth and tenth largest holdings.
