Billionaire Joseph Lewis Takes on More Stake in Bear Stearns

Today Joseph Lewis disclosed in a regulatory filing that he has just increased his stake in Bear Stearns to 9.57 percent.

Lewis has been building his stake in Bear Stearns over the past few months. In September he spent 860.4 million dollars for a 7 percent stake. He then increased this stake to 8.01 percent earlier this month, & now owns 9.57 percent of the hurting mortgage lender.

Lewis and several investment vehicles he controls paid a total of $1.19 billion in stock for Bear Stearns, the filing said. He paid an average of 101.07 dollars per share with each purchase ranging between 89.08 to 110 dollars per share.

Lewis’ buying of a larger stake in Bear is the latest significant change in the bank’s shareholder base. Previous to Lewis’s purchase Bear Stearns and China’s CITIC Securities Co forged a deal in October to swap stakes in each other, giving Bear greater access to China’s burgeoning stock brokerage business and aiding CITIC’s global expansion plans.

To read more about billionaire Lewis ups stake in Bear Stearns filing head on over to Forbes.