Past Archives
Equity Investments Unit switches to stealth mode and considers expansion into the South Korean market. Portfolio section will no longer update starting 2012 and news of transactions will no longer be posted.
Traditionally, we invested in foreign markets through closed-end ETF's, however, due to certain benefits and lack of clarity in fund management, we are weighing the possibility of expanding our equity operations into South Korea.
Vista Palo Alto President and CEO, David Kim, attends Gangwon Province's Summit of International Trade and Relations Advisors. While attending the summit, he advised Gangwon Province on the 2018 Pyungchang Winter Olympic Games and the fiscal aftermath, possibilities for IT industry, and signage in Yong Pyung to attract global tourism leveraging Korean Wave.
Equity Investments Unit adds to its VistaShareTM positions in F5 Networks (FFIV) @ $99.430 per share.
Equity Investments Unit began consolidating VistaSharesTM in high-tech, financial, and biotech companies to write covered calls for additional revenue generation from existing holdings. Recent sales for this initiative include EQIX, FFIV, ACAS, COF, and BSX. Increases in holdings include FNSR, BAC, and AVNR.
Equity Investments Unit sells all non-VistaSharesTM in network equipment maker F5 Networks
(NASDAQ FFIV) @ $108.8500 per share after shares rose nearly 20% in two days.
Equity Investments Unit sells 100% of its VistaShareTM holdings in biotechnology company Medivation Inc. @ $20.23 per share. Shares were purchased in March 2010 @ $11.25 per share. Although this investment performed extremely well over the past year, it's drug Dimebon's recent failed trial for Huntington's disease after it's late stage failure for Alzheimer's disease a year ago leaves very little upside potential.
Equity Investments Unit adds to its VistaShare positions in the India Fund (IFN) @ $29.146 per share. The closed-end ETF India Fund has experienced recent weakness and is trading at a discount of 1.52% as of 02/08/11. Shares declined 2.18% today, but the relative premium/discount intra-day is unknown.
The Province of Gangwon has appointed Mr. David Kim, President/CEO of Vista Palo Alto, as an Honorary International Trade and Relations Advisor for Gangwon Province, Republic of Korea. This position covers the region of Northern California and the appointment is a four-year term until the end of 2014. Gangwon Province has 55 Honorary Advisors throughout the world, and recent increase in the number of Honorary Advisors is due to the importance of international presence in its bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Mr. David Kim's first task is to promote the One Milion Signature Campaign for Pyeong Chang's bid for Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games.
Equity Investments Unit reports 37.79% realized gain and 4.87% unrealized loss for an effective investment return of 32.92% for the calendar year of 2010, which betters the broader market it seeks to track by 20.92% (compared to S&P 500 index). Top performers were Woburn, MA based remote access provider LogMeIn (LOGM) with 132.6%, Palo Alto, CA based electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors with 66.1% (since its IPO in July 2010) and South San Francisco, CA based cancer drug researcher Excelixis (EXEL) with 80.8% (previous and additional investments starting June of 2010).
Equity Investments Unit sells 60% of its VistaShareTM holdings in leading remote access technology company LogMeIn
(NASDAQ LOGM) @ $45.6700 per share. LogMeIn has been our best performing investment this year in terms of total returns, and we project it to continue to outperform the broader market for years to come. The decision to sell a portion of our positions in this investment was based on a combination of tax implications and its movement in the past few months.
Equity Investments Unit added to its positions in Chinese eCommerce company Mecox Lane Limited (MCOX) @ $7.3780 and $9.1700 per share. Mecox Lane announced Q3 2010 earnings after the close of market on 11/29, which showed net income of $797,404 on $55.3M revenue compared to net income of $230,217 on $40.7M revenue of Q3 2009. Shares fell below IPO price of $11 for the first time in highly volatile morning trading.
Equity Investment Unit also added to its positions in Dutch bank ING @ $8.8080 per share. ING shares have been experiencing a sharp decline due to troubles in the Eurozone that caused the Euro to lose grounds against the USD.
Equity Investments Unit sells 80% of VistaSharesTM in South San Francisco based cancer drug research company Excelixis (EXEL) @ $5.9800 per share. Shares in Excelixis jumped 27% in early trading after rising 8% previous day. Share price increase was due to positive Phase 2 trial data of XL184 for prostate and ovarian cancer.
Equity Investment Unit also initiated purchase of GM's IPO as a hedge against unexpected increase with low volatility.
