By Pete Gallo
Market turmoil left even star hedge fund managers playing defense this holiday season. But one of the best - not to mention cleverest - such portfolio plays came from Paulson & Co., which held a winning, jumbo-size investment in Kinross Gold.
As markets struggled in November, Paulson's massive position in Kinross roughly doubled in value. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that as of November 1, the hedge fund had roughly 28.4 million shares in the NYSE-listed Canadian mining company.
Even as the broader market strained, Kinross shot from $7.66 per share at the start of November to $14.75 at the close of the month. With 28.4 million shares, Paulson's position was poised to bloom to $418.9 million, representing a stellar profit of $201.4 million in just one month. (Filings also show that Michael Einhorn's Greenlight Capital held a smaller...