Lewis, a reclusive London-born investor, made a big splash in September when he snapped up $860.4 million worth of the bank's sagging stock to become one of its largest shareholders in less than a month.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Joseph Lewis, a billionaire who snapped up a big 7 percent stake in hard-hit investment bank Bear Stearns Cos <BSC.N> three months ago, has boosted his investment to 8.01 percent, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
Lewis, a reclusive London-born investor, made a big splash in September when he snapped up $860.4 million worth of the bank's sagging stock to become one of its largest shareholders in less than a month.
According to the new filing, Lewis owned 9.25 million shares of Bear Stearns as of December 5.
Overall Lewis and several investment vehicles he controls paid a total of $1 billion for the shares, the filing said. He paid more than $118 a share for all of his acquired shares over the past 60 days.
!ADVERTISEMENT!But so far, based on Bear's closing price of $98.21 Thursday, those shares are worth just $908.74 million, leaving Lewis down roughly $100 million.
Bear Stearns shares have plunged 41 percent in the past year as the slumping mortgage market hurt the bank's biggest businesses and prompted write-downs on mortgage-related assets. Bear also suffered a hit to its reputation as a savvy bond trader in July when two mortgage hedge funds it managed were forced into bankruptcy.
Lewis' stake exceeds that of Bear Stearns Chairman and Chief Executive James Cayne, who holds about 5.8 percent of the company's stock, including restricted stock and incentive-plan shares.
Lewis' move is the latest significant change in Bear's shareholder base. It comes less than two months after China's CITIC Securities Co <600030.SS> and Bear forged a deal to swap stakes in each other, giving Bear greater access to China's burgeoning stock brokerage business and aid CITIC's global expansion plans.
Bear said it would buy $1 billion of CITIC debt that would convert over time to a 2 percent stake in the Beijing-based firm, while CITIC would invest about $1 billion in Bear Stearns securities that would convert to about 6 percent of the New York-based investment bank.
Lewis' investment vehicle, Tavistock Group, holds interests in more than 170 companies in 15 countries. Operating from the Bahamas and Florida, Lewis' investments include English Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur, golf course developments in Florida, Alcatraz Brewing Co and life sciences companies.
Forbes this year put Lewis at No. 369 on its world ranking of billionaires, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Bear stock was up 81 cents to $99.02 in Friday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone, Ed Tobin and Dane Hamilton in New York; Editing by Mark Porter/Derek Caney)
