Greenlight's David Einhorn said Wednesday at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York he has bought shares of European chemicals company Solvay . Solvay, which has a $2.6 billion market cap and does not trade in the U.S., is a chemicals and plastics company based Brussels, Belgium that manufactures and distributes chemical and plastics products including peroxides and soda ash. The European market is closed for the day. Solvay shares are down more than 3% year to date.
"While all of these are thought of as commodity businesses, they are higher margin and much more stable than most commodity chemical businesses." In 2023, Einhorn's hedge fund gained 22.1%, net of fees and expenses, underperforming the S & P 500's 24.2% gain last year. Notably, his fund lost 4.3% in the fourth quarter, when the broad market index rallied more than 11%, after the investor undertook a temporary buyer's strike.