Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) recently received a much-needed vote of confidence from the manager of Fidelity’s OTC Portfolio.
Fidelity, a top investor in the EV firm and SolarCity Corp (SCTY) gave Tesla’s policies a vote of confidence in recent commentary to fund shareholders, says Reuters.
Baker Shares a Common Vision
In his quarterly commentary for investors, Fidelity Securities Fund Over the Counter Portfolio manager Gavin Baker said, “We are fans not just of Tesla products but of the concepts underpinning the firm and potential future partnerships ahead of it.”
Baker said that they foresee fruitful synergies between the automaker and any company in search of superior battery technology, “and we modestly increased our position this quarter.”
Last week after talking with major investors, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he is quite sure that the merger will pass. It would not have been very difficult to convince Baker since he made similar comments earlier this year even before the proposed merger was declared.
At the end of May, Fidelity’s OTC Portfolio was the second-largest mutual fund investor in the electric car maker with around 3.14 million shares. With 5.5 million shares, Fidelity’s Contrafund, run by Will Danoff, was number 1 among mutual funds.
Tesla CEO confident on the merger
As of now, it is still not known when the merger is going to be introduced to shareholders to vote. Musk called for bringing the two companies together again earlier this month in his “Master Plan Part Deux.”
On July 20, Musk said he aims to “create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility, and then scale that throughout the world.”
Musk said they cannot do this well if the automaker and SolarCity are different companies, and this is why they need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to them being separate companies.
Fidelity the Second Biggest Investor in Tesla
Tesla and SolarCity are reportedly in the final stages of putting together an estimated $2.8 billion merger, and the commentary posted on Fidelity’s website came just in time.
According to Thomson Reuters Data, Fidelity funds combined are the second-largest investor in the automaker, holding around 11% of shares, while Musk happens to be the biggest shareholder, holding around 20%.
In SolarCity, Baker’s OTC Portfolio owns about 9%, making it the second-largest shareholder, and Musk again is the largest shareholder owning about 23%, according to Thomson Reuters data.
