Monitise PLC (MONIF)

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Cooperman’s investment in Monitise tumbles due to Apple Pay

http://nypost.com/2014/10/10/coopermans-investment-in-monitise-tumbles-due-to-apple-pay/

One of the hedge fund industry’s senior managers has been bitten in the assets by Apple.

Leon Cooperman, who has run Omega Advisors for 23 years, saw his investment in Monitise, a small UK software company that has been on the cutting edge of mobile payments, tumble 37 percent in September.

That’s the same month Apple announced Apple Pay, its own mobile payment system set to debut this month.

Cooperman, 71, Monitise’s biggest shareholder, had been touting the company nearly every chance he got, including at two hedge fund conferences earlier this year.

But he’s been unusually quiet since the Apple Pay announcement knocked the legs out from under Monitise and its Mobile Money product.

Monitise investors were disheartened to hear that Visa, another big Monitise shareholder, would sell its stake — and align itself with Apple Pay.

That helped turn September into a loser for Cooperman’s $11 billion Omega Advisors. It fell 2.5 percent that month, according to investors.

It’s been a tough year all around for Omega — which is largely long equities.

The fund is up just 1.35 percent through Sept. 30 — compared to the S&P 500’s 5.25 percent gain.

Visa International owns 6 percent of Monitise. It has made no announcement about its plans for the shares.

Despite these headwinds, Cooperman told The Post on Friday he hasn’t sold out of Monitise.

“We still like it,” he said.

The former Goldman Sachs executive owns more than 11 percent of Monitise — just a tiny portion of his portfolio. His Monitise shares, which he began buying 22 months ago, are now worth around $100 million.

Shares of Monitise are down more than 58 percent for the year. They closed at 27.97 pence in London on Friday, down 4.4 percent.

There is a bit of a silver lining for Cooperman’s beleaguered investment in Monitise. He has a much bigger stake in Apple, owning more than a million shares.

“Technology is a double-edge sword,” he said on CNBC Thursday.