Charles Koch, Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries
Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Stand Together
Koch Industries has disclosed investments in three companies.
Koch Industries, helmed by Chairman and CEO Charles Koch, said it owned large stakes in Cue Health (ticker: HLTH), Kore Group Holdings (KORE), and Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VI (HCVIU). The company disclosed the positions in fillings to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Koch Industries didn’t provide a comment on the investments.
The company, through subsidiaries, owned 7.9 million shares of Cue Health, a 5.5% stake in the maker of Covid-19 tests, as of Oct. 8. The shares were priced at $16 for its initial public offering on Sept. 24. The stock has slipped 33% since then.
Koch Industries’ stake rose above the 5% threshold of Sept. 29, necessitating the regulatory filing, but the specific timing of its acquisition of the shares wasn’t disclosed. The company may have been an early investor in Cue Health, but neither Koch Industries nor its subsidiaries were listed as principal stockholders in Cue Health’s pre-IPO SEC filings. Such a listing is required for investors who own stakes of 5% or more.
Koch Industries owned 10 million Kore Group shares, a 14.9% stake in the provider of Internet of Things solutions. The company said in April that it had invested in Kore, when Kore had agreed to go public through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by Cerberus Capital Management, but before the transaction closed on Sept. 30. Kore had noted in an SEC filing that Koch Industries would own 10 million shares with the close of trading. Shares began trading Oct. 1.
Koch Industries also disclosed that it owned about 3 million shares of Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VI, a 9.9% stake in the blank-check company focused on making a deal in the industrial technology sector. It didn’t have a specific transaction selected when shares began trading publicly on Sept. 29. Koch Industries purchased the shares in the IPO, which priced each unit at $10 each, with each unit including one share and one third of a redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant allows the purchase of one share for $11.50.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
