Touradji Triples Petrohawk Stake, Adds EXCO, Sells Sandridge

By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen

Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Touradji Capital Management LP, the $3.5 billion hedge fund firm founded by former Tiger Management LLC trader Paul Touradji, tripled its stake in oil and natural- gas company Petrohawk Energy Group in the second quarter.

Touradji Capital held 3.24 million shares of Houston-based Petrohawk worth $149.87 million as of June 30, according to a filing yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock accounted for 20 percent of the firm's portfolio in the second quarter.

Petrohawk, which operates a test well in northwestern Louisiana, soared 130 percent in the quarter. Touradji Capital also bought 1.59 million shares worth $58.67 million of EXCO Resources Inc., a Dallas-based oil and natural-gas producer. The stock doubled in the second quarter.

Touradji, 36, started Touradji Capital in New York in 2005 and has since returned an annualized 31.4 percent. The firm trades commodities including oil, copper and coffee as well as shares of natural-resource companies. Its main fund gained 6.5 percent in July, cutting its loss to 5 percent in 2008.

Energy stocks accounted for 92 percent of the holdings filed by Touradji Capital to the SEC. Other additions in the quarter included a $56.4 million stake in Denver-based Colorado- based energy company St. Mary Land & Exploration and shares of Helmerich & Payne Inc., a provider of contract drilling of oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico and South America.

Touradji Capital cut its stake in Cabot Oil & Gas Corp, a Houston-based producer of natural gas, selling 12,923 shares. Cabot rose 33 percent in the quarter.

The firm also cut its stake in Sandridge Energy Inc., an Oklahoma-based oil and gas company. Touradji Capital sold 796,444 shares. Sandridge rose 65 percent in the quarter.

Hedge funds are private pools of capital that allow managers to participate substantially in the gains of the money invested.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net