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This February the seventeenth, a missive arrived from the SEC, revealing this curious transaction. WEX, it seems, has captured the attention of those who traffic in such things. The company, as it happens, has recently boasted a revenue of two billion, six hundred and sixty million dollars – a sum that would surely impress even the most extravagant of spendthrifts. Though its net income, at three hundred and four million, two hundred thousand dollars, is but a modest portion of such a grand display. A slight diminishment from the previous year, yet, one must concede, still a handsome reward for their endeavors.

The narrative is clean energy and AI data centers. A winning combination, apparently. Everyone needs power, and Bloom’s boxes – solid oxide fuel cells, they call them – are supposed to be the answer. They convert fuel into electricity without combustion. Sounds…efficient. And they can be installed in 90 days or less. Which is good. Because waiting is so last year.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission – a document which, one imagines, inspires more yawns than investigations – reveals that this acquisition elevates Clifford Capital’s stake to 2.72% of their reportable assets. A significant holding? Hardly. But enough to suggest a belief – or perhaps a hope – that Thermon’s particular brand of industrial heating will continue to prove… serviceable. The fund’s total position now values at $15.55 million, factoring in the inevitable fluctuations of the exchange.

Few entities dominate their sphere with such unnerving precision. Axon, formerly TASER International, has ascended to become the undisputed leader in law enforcement technology. Electrical stun guns, body cameras, dashboard cameras… these are not simply products, but instruments, extensions of authority. And now, software, the very sinews of control, to manage evidence, records, investigations… a complete ecosystem of surveillance.

H&R Block, a name synonymous with the annual reckoning, the quiet confessions of income and expense. The stock itself, however, has been adrift, a vessel tossed by currents it scarcely controls. A decline of 40% over the past year—a bruising fall, even as the broader market ascends. The S&P 500, a gilded balloon, rising while this particular craft struggles to maintain altitude. And yet, Lodge Hill Capital has chosen this moment, this apparent vulnerability, to cast anchor.

The final years of the Buffett reign saw a curious shedding of equity, a strategic divestiture that swelled the cash reserves to proportions bordering on the baroque. Share buybacks, a quarterly ritual for twenty-four consecutive seasons, ceased abruptly in June of 2024. Twenty-one months of abstinence. A prolonged pause that invited speculation, a silence that now, with Abel’s intervention, has been elegantly broken. One suspects a certain impatience, a quiet assertion of autonomy. Or perhaps, simply, a favorable valuation. The market, after all, is a capricious mistress, and even the most discerning eye can occasionally detect a fleeting moment of lucidity.

It is a curious spectacle, this dance of capital. Angelo Gordon, a firm accustomed to navigating the complexities of investment, has chosen to place a portion of its resources in a company dedicated to the management of that which others discard. One wonders if this is a pragmatic calculation, a simple assessment of potential returns, or if there is a more subtle impulse at play – a recognition, perhaps, that the very foundations of prosperity rest upon the efficient disposal of its byproducts. The increase in their stake, amounting to a substantial sum, elevates Enviri to a position of prominence within their portfolio, representing nearly six percent of their total assets as of the close of the previous year.

By the time the market decided to close its eyes for the night, Oracle’s price had puffed itself up by more than nine percent. Not bad for a company that once sold things in boxes.

Angelo Gordon’s acquisition represents a 2.98% allocation within their reportable 13F assets under management. The firm’s broader holdings provide some indication of their investment thesis. Their top five positions as of the filing date are: