Banks didn't create the subprime mortgage disaster but the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston thinks they can play a significant role solving the problem.

Eric Rosengren said Boston Fed research about real estate lending activity in New England suggests some borrowers stuck with subprime loans could be eligible for refinancing into more conventional bank mortgages.

"The most critical issue is that finance that supports responsible subprime lending continues, despite recent problems," Rosengren said in prepared remarks delivered to the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce in Maine this morning. "I believe there is an opportunity for commercial and savings banks to help provide liquidity in this market."

Rosengren pointed to several specific types of borrowers who may be best suited for conventional mortgage refinancing. He pointed to some subprime borrowers who have relatively good credit scores, have owned homes long enough to have gained significant equity or have been keeping up with payments on loans based on teaser interest rates higher than current conventional rates.

"To the extent that some subprime borrowers have improved their (credit) score with regular payments, already had a high (credit) score or have appreciated wealth in their houses, now is the time for these borrowers to seek lower cost financing opportunities," he said.

The president of Harvard Management Co., which manages the world's largest university endowment, plans to leave the job at the end of the year, the university said today.

Mohamed El-Erian, who came to Harvard Management in 2006, plans to return to the firm where he had worked previously, Pacific Investment Management Co., or PIMCO.

El-Erian's planned departure follows the recent announcement of Harvard Management's annual investment performance, which was considered very good. The $34.9 billion earned 23 percent in its most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30.

El-Erian arrived at Harvard to succeed Jack Meyer, the longtime Harvard Management president who had resigned along with many of his top investment managers to launch a new hedge fund. He spent much of his tenure hiring a new team of senior managers.

Meyer and his managers had become controversial in some Harvard circles because a compensation system designed to reward superior performance was paying a few people as much as $18 million a year.

When he arrived, El-Erian said he would not abolish Harvard Management's performance-oriented compensation plan, but top salaries for the 2006 fiscal year paled in comparison to earlier periods. A report on the highest paid managers for the 2007 fiscal year will be issued near the end of the year.

"In returning to southern California to be closer to our family, I will miss my daily interactions with this special Harvard community," El-Erian said in a written announcement.

El-Erian and Harvard officials did not offer any more detailed explanation for his planned departure.

"Mohamed has done an impressive job guiding and reorganizing Harvard Management Co., and we will miss his leadership," said James Rothenberg, Harvard's treasurer and the chairman of Harvard Management.

Activist hedge funds buy up chunks of underperforming companies and start rattling the cages demanding change. But do they really create value by getting companies and their managers to perform better?

Research by Harvard Business School professor Robin Greenwood and his co-author, Michael Schor, indicates the answer is yes, but only sometimes. They studied investments by activists hedge funds over a period from 1993 to 2006.

Greenwood and Schor say hedge funds don't force operational improvements at companies very often. Instead, they create shareholder value by putting companies in play as potential merger or acquisition targets. They say the relatively short investment horizon of hedge funds make them ineffective "unsuitable overseers of management."

You can read a summary of their research here. You can go here to download a copy of the entire report from the Social Science Research Network.

Famously bearish investor Jeremy Grantham of Boston's Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo has been writing a lot about the future of private equity lately. Anyone familiar with Grantham's point of view can guess what he predicts: Big trouble.

Grantham thinks the end of easy money and a squeeze on corporate profit margins will clobber private equity firms and their deals, writing those sentiments in today's Financial Times. "With or without a credit crisis, their geese are cooked," Grantham writes. You can read his entire article here.

Last month, Grantham wrote even more expansively on this subject on GMO's own website. You can read that piece, "The Blackstone Peak and the Turning of the Worms," here (registration required).

CGM Trust, the entity that reports mutual fund holdings managed by Ken Heebner, filed its semiannual update today disclosing his portfolios as of June 30. Heebner tends to trade a lot, so his holdings today may be somewhat different. But Heebner is one of Boston's best fund managers and it's worth looking inside his portfolios, even if the information is slightly dated.

CGM Trust covers four different mutual funds, but Heebner is best known for his $3 billion CGM Focus fund. It's concentrated in a smaller number of stocks and has the ability to sell shares short as well. CGM Focus also has huge return numbers. It's up 28 percent so far this year and has returned an average of 25 percent annually over the past five years.

The top 10 stocks in the CGM Focus portfolio: Vimpel-Communications ADR ($191.8 million), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. ($177.4 million), Schlumberger Ltd. ($166.5 million), Companhai Vale Do Rio Doce ADR ($166.2 million), Petroleo Brasileiro SA ($164.9 million), Fluror Corp. ($147 million), McDermott International ($145.5 million), Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. ($144.9 million), Mosaic Co. ($144 million) and Baker Hughes Inc. ($138.8 million).

Earlier this year, Heebner had moved aggressively into the stocks of Wall Street brokerage firms. But none of those companies appeared in the CGM Focus portfolio by June 30. The fund's sole financial stock: Mastercard Inc. ($130.7 million)

The CGM Focus short list is small in number compared with the stocks in its portfolio. The fund's four shorts on June 30: Countrywide Financial Corp. (4.2 million shares), Indymac Bancorp Inc. (1.9 million shares), Fortress Investment Group LLC (975,000 shares) and Firstfed Financial Corp. (375,000 shares).

You can read the full CGM Trust report here. It also includes portfolio information for the CGM Realty, CGM Capital Development and CGM Mutual funds.

Harvard University's $34.9 billion endowment earned returns of 23 percent in its fiscal year ended June 30, its best investment performance in seven years, the university said today.

The world's largest university endowment grew from $29.2 billion the previous year and distributed $1.1 billion to Harvard to spend on teaching, research, and student aid. It was the first time the endowment distributed more than $1 billion in a year to the university.

Harvard's investment performance was the best since it earned 32.2 percent in 2000. Harvard Management Co., the university's investment arm, manages the endowment but also uses outside firms to invest some of the money.

In its annual letter to the university, Harvard Management also said huge losses at the Boston hedge fund Sowood Capital Management had inflicted a decline of about 1 percent in the university's endowment in July, after the close of the 2007 fiscal year. Harvard was the initial backer and perhaps the largest investor in Sowood Capital, which was launched by former Harvard Management portfolio manager Jeffrey Larson.

But Harvard Management said other investments in the endowment, hedging against events that hurt Sowood, balanced off the decline. It said the endowment gained an estimated 0.4 percent in July, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3.1 percent.

The endowment's 23 percent investment gain for the full 2007 fiscal year exceeded the 20.6 percent gain of the S&P 500 over the same period and an advance of 17.2 percent by a benchmark designed to match the way Harvard allocates money to different kinds of investments.

The Trust Universe Comparison Service, with current data on 151 institutional investors, such as pension funds, reports a median return of 17.7 percent for the June 30 fiscal year. The top 5 percent performer in that group earned 20.9 percent.

But most other university endowments have yet to post their annual reports. Some of those endowments investing with greater emphasis on certain asset categories such as real estate and private equity may exceed Harvard's 2007 return.

Harvard Management Co. said the endowment's performance in its last fiscal year was driven most by its investments in emerging markets, international stocks and US equities. But Harvard did not detail specific performance by asset categories, as it has done in the past.

A brief look at the top institutional stockholders of the largest public companies in Massachusetts, ranked by market value, as of June 30 with the help of data from Bloomberg News.

6. Biogen Idec Inc.: The three largest stockholders of Biogen own more than a third of the company. Clearbridge Advisors became Biogen's largest shareholder during the second quarter. It bought 2.5 million share, for a total position of about 38.3 million shares that represents a 13.4 percent interest in the company. Fidelity Investments sold 4.1 million shares, reducing its holdings to 34.8 million shares or 12.1 percent. Primecap Management was Biogen's third largest investor, owning 31 million shares, or 10.8 percent of the company.

7. Staples Inc. The biggest Staples Inc. investors got even bigger in the second quarter. Fidelity Investments bought 10 million shares during the quarter. That gave Fidelity a total holding of 74.6 million shares, representing 10.4 percent ownership. Wellington Management, which bought 5.8 million shares during the quarter, owned 34.8 million shares or 4.9 percent of the company. Barclay's Global Investors added 5.3 million shares, for a total of 33.1 million or 4.6 percent. The quarter's biggest seller of Staples stock was TIAA-CREF Investment Management, which unloaded 4.5 million shares to trim its holdings to 6.9 million shares.

8. Genzyme Corp.: Clearbridge Advisors, the firm that became the largest Biogen shareholder, also became the top investor in Genzyme during the second quarter. Clearbridge added 1.8 million shares, for a total of 22.7 million or 8.6 percent of the company. Brinson Partners sold 5.2 million shares, cutting its stake to 17.1 million shares. Brinson was still Genzyme's second largest holder with its reduced 6.5 percent interest in the company. Sands Capital Management, a moderate seller of Genzyme stock during the second quarter, owned just under 13 million shares, or 4.9 percent.

9. American Tower Corp.: T. Rowe Price remained bullish on American Tower during the second quarter. It bought 6.2 million shares, for total holdings of 56.6 million shares or 13.8 percent of the company. Fidelity Investments sold 3.6 million shares, but remained American Tower's second-largest investor owning 31.6 million shares or 7.7 percent. Goldman Sachs Group owned 22.6 million shares, or 5.5 percent of the company, on June 30.

10. TJX Cos. Inc.: Pzena Asset Management, a long-time fan of TJX, became the company's largest investor during the second quarter. Pzena bought 4.2 million shares, bringing its holdings to 24.9 million shares or 5.5 percent of the company. Ruane Cunniff & Co. sold a small part of its position during the quarter, owning 24.7 million shares or 5.4 percent on June 30. Primecap Management owned 21.2 million or 4.47 percent on June 30. Two of the most active second-quarter traders of TJX shares, Fidelity Investments and Wellington Management, nearly cancelled each other out. Wellington bought 9.9 million shares, piling up a total position of 12.6 million shares at the end of the quarter. Fidelity sold 9.2 million shares, cutting its holdings to 11.3 million shares.

Another in a series of portfolio updates from Boston's biggest investment management firms, based on reports filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission:

MFS Investment Management's list of top stock holdings for June 30 is led by Johnson & Johnson. MFS owned more than 27 million shares worth $1.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Other stocks among the firm's top 10 holdings include: Exxon Mobil Corp. ($1.7 billion), Altria Group Inc. ($1.5 billion), Bank of America Corp. ($1.5 billion), Intel Corp. ($1.4 billion), Lockheed Martin Corp. ($1.4 billion), Oracle Corp. ($1.4 billion), Bank of New York ($1.3 billion), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ($1.2 billion) and Nike Inc. ($1.2 billion).

You can read the entire MFS second-quarter report HERE.

Another in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. The filings report on stock holdings and some equity-based derivative positions, but not other kinds of investments.

It's hard to figure out what's going on at Baupost, a well-known Boston hedge fund, based on its quarterly SEC filing, because it invests in so many other things that go unreported. What's worth noting in the Baupost second quarter report is the big bet on SLM Corp., which is the holding company for student loan giant Sallie Mae.

Baupost did not own any SLM shares at the end of last year. By March 31, it acquired nearly 4 million shares. Baupost added another 350,000 shares in the second quarter, for a total of 4.3 million. The position, worth $248 million, is by far the biggest investment in the $986 million portfolio reported in the Baupost quarterly disclosure report (remember, that's its only the fund's stock positions).

SLM has been a volatile stock this year for a good reason. The company struck a deal to be acquired for $25 billion by private equity buyers in April, driving the stock price way up. Political and financial concerns have made some investors question how the SLM deal would turn out and the stock has slumped from its peak.

You can read the entire Baupost second quarter filing HERE. The fund's report for the first quarter is available HERE.

A brief look at the top institutional stockholders of the largest public companies in Massachusetts, ranked by market value, as of June 30 with help on the data from Bloomberg News:

1. EMC Corp.: Fidelity Investments became the largest EMC shareholder by June 30, though its sold 3 million shares during the quarter to reduce its holdings to 84.3 million shares, or 4 percent of the company. Capital Research & Management was the company's second largest investor with 75.4 million shares. Wellington Management, which had been EMC's largest stockholder, fell to third position by selling 110 million of its 176 million shares. EMC's big buyer during the second quarter was Lone Pine Capital, a hedge fund operated by Stephen Mandel, which acquired all its 47 million shares during the quarter to become the company's eighth-largest investor. Those purchases also made EMC the largest single investment in the Lone Pine portfolio.

2. State Street Corp: The big three of State Street investors remained intact during the second quarter, with a change in order. T. Rowe Price bought 2.4 million shares during the quarter to become the largest State Street holder. It owned 25.7 million shares on June 30, representing 6.6 percent of the company. Fidelity Investments, which added a minimal amount of stock during the quarter, was second with 24. million shares, or 6.3 percent of State Street. Wellington Management, a modest seller, was third with 23.1 million shares, or 5.9 percent.

3. Raytheon Co.: The three largest shareholders of Raytheon Co. remained in order during the second quarter. Fidelity Investments added 3.5 million shares during the quarter, for a total of 20 million shares or 4.6 percent of the company. Capital Research & Management was second with 3.5 percent of Raytheon's stock and Barclays Global Investors was third with a 3 percent interest.

4. Thermo Fisher Scientific: Goldman Sachs Group bought 6.3 million Thermo Fisher shares during the second quarter to become the company's largest holder with a total of 20.1 million shares. That amounts to an interest of 4.7 percent. Dodge & Cox, a modest seller during the quarter, was second with 18.3 million shares that represent 4.3 percent of the company. Fidelity Investments, which bought a limited amount of stock, was third with 14 million shares, amounting to 3.3 percent of the company.

5. Boston Scientific Corp.: Value-oriented investors were buyers of Boston Scientific shares during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox, which had owned no Boston Scientific stock at the end of the first quarter, bought 39.5 million shares by June 30 and Capital Research & Management nearly doubled its position by purchasing 22 million shares during the second quarter. The largest independent Boston Scientific shareholder (excluding the company's two founders) was Brandes Investment Partners, which added 16 million shares for a total of 78 million shares, or 5.2 percent of the company. Capital Research & Management was second with 51.1 million shares, or 3.4 percent and Franklin Resources was third with 50.6 million shares, or 3.4 percent. Wellington Management was a big seller of Boston Scientific stock during the second quarter, unloading its final 11.5 million shares. Wellington had made a much bigger bet on Boston Scientific stock that fizzled last year.

The Bloomberg Massachusetts stock index has sunk 11.1 percent since the stock market hit its summer top on July 17, slightly less than the 11.3 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 over the same period.

Among Massachusetts company with a minimum stock market value of $500 million, the 10 biggest losers (as of mid-session today) were: Akamai Technologies Inc. (down 42.7 percent), Sonus Networks Inc., (down 34 percent), Perini Corp. (down 35.4 percent), Sepracor Inc. (down 32.2 percent), Brooks Automation Inc., Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. (29.4 percent), 3Com Corp. (down 26.2 percent), VistaPrint Ltd. (down 25 percent), Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. (down 24.7 percent), BJ's Wholesale Club (down 24.3 percent).

A total of 42 Massachusetts companies of any size have managed to hold their ground in the stock market or actually gain in value. The best of the group: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has climbed 18.4 percent.

Another in a series of portfolio updates from Boston's biggest investment management firms, based on reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

Wellington Management list of its 10 largest stock holdings, as of June 30, remains true to the firm's value-investing roots. Nine of its top 10 stocks are repeats from the previous quarter, though rearranged in some cases. The only real change: Google Inc. replaced Swiss banking giant UBS AG in the tenth spot during the second quarter.

Wellington's complete top 10 list includes: Shering-Plough Corp. ($5.6 billion), Citigroup Inc. ($5.4 billion), Bank of America Corp. ($5.2 billion), AT&T Inc. ($5.1 billion), General Electric Co. ($4.8 billion), Exxon Mobil Corp. ($4.8 billion), ConocoPhillips ($4.3 billion), Eli Lilly & Co. ($4.3 billion), Medtronic INc. $3.3 billion) and Google Inc. $3.3 billion).

The entire Wellington stock portfolio report is available HERE. You can read Wellington's first-quarter filing can be read HERE.

One in a series of portfolio updates from Boston's largest money management firms based on reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

Fidelity Investments still loves Google Inc. Fidelity reports Google as the largest single stock holding across all its mutual funds and other investments, as of June 30. Fidelity is Google's single-largest shareholder with a 10.6 percent interest in the company, worth $12.8 billion.

Other stocks among Fidelity's top 10 were: AT&T Inc. ($11.9 billion), AIG Inc. ($9.9 billion), Exxon Mobil Corp. ($9.8 billion), Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. ($8 billion), Schlumberger Ltd. ($7.3 billion), Apple Inc. ($6.7 billion), Bank of America Corp. ($6.5 billion), General Electric Co. ($6.4 billion) and Hewlett-Packard Co. ($5.9 billion).

Among the top 10 list, Petroleo Brasileiro was the big climber. Fidelity, which owns 132 million shares, bought 102.5 million of them during the second quarter.

You can read Fidelity's complete second-quarter report HERE. Fidelity's filing for the previous quarter is available HERE.

Another in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

Sirios Capital Management, a hedge fund operated by former MFS mutual fund manager John Brennan, reported assets of $2.4 billion as of June 30, up slightly from $2.3 billion the previous quarter. SEC filings report stock and some equity derivatives, but not other kinds of investments.

Among the 10 largest stocks owned by Sirios on June 30 were:

Allegheny Energy Inc. ($337.3 million), Progressive Corp. ($124.5 million), Schering-Plough Corp. ($112.8 million, AIG Inc. ($112.1 million), and Precision Castparts Corp. ($90.9 million).

Also, Allegheny Technologies Inc. ($90.8 million), Sonus Networks Inc. ($73.5 million), EW Scripps Co. ($73 million), Indymac Bancorp. ($68 million) and Medtronic Inc. ($62.6 million).

The top 10 reported holdings of Sirios for March 31 were:

Allegheny Energy, AIG, Precision Castparts, EW Scripps, Schering Plough, Allegheny Technologies Inc., Progressive, AmerisourceBergan Corp., Indymac, and Capital One Financial Corp.

The entire quarterly filing by Sirios is available here. You can read the firm’s first-quarter report here.

Another in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

Tudor Investment Management is a large hedge fund firm, headquartered in Greenwich, Conn., that manages many investment products. Some of them, including the well-known Raptor fund, are managed by Jim Pallotta from Boston, but Tudor lumps all its reportable holdings into one SEC filing. That filing reports stock and some equity derivatives, but not other kinds of investments.

The 10 largest investments reported by Tudor, as of June 30, were:

Kraft Foods Inc. ($989 million), Motorola Inc. ($598 million), Mirant Corp. ($402 million), Altria Group Inc. ($374 million), and Prudential Financial Inc. ($352 million).

Also, CVS Caremark Corp. ($348 million), TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. ($314 million), Virgin Media Inc. ($286 million), NRG Energy Inc. ($286 million), and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. ($285 million).

Tudor’s top 10 stock investments on March 31 were:

Motorola, CVS, Altria, Tyco International Ltd., Williams Cos., Mirant, Prudential, Sears Holdings Corp., Virgin Media and Qwest Communications International.

Tudor’s full SEC portfolio report for June 30 is available here. You can read Tudor’s filing for the previous quarter here.

Another in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

Vinik Asset Management, the hedge fund that claims to be in business only to manage its own money and that of some friends, reported on assets of $5.4 billion as of June 30, down slightly from $5.4 billion reported for March 31. The filings report stock holdings and some equity derivatives, but not other kinds of securities.

Reports filed for Vinik Asset Management are unusual because they break out individual investments directed by firm principal Jeff Vinik, the former Fidelity Magellan manager, and four other portfolio managers at the firm. I've focused exclusively on investments attributed to Jeff Vinik here.

Vinik's top 10 stock holdings on June 30 were: Foster Wheeler Ltd. ($129.8 million), Google Inc. ($112.2 million), Intuitive Surgical Inc. ($93.7 million), Coach Inc. ($91 million), ABB Ltd. ($90.7 million), Transocean Inc. ($90.3 million), Gilead Sciences Inc. ($69.6 million), XTO Energy Inc. ($69.5 million), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. ($59.9 million) and SPX Corp. ($59.3 million).

The 10 largest stock holdings reported by Vinik for March 31 were: Coach, Google, XTO Energy, Manitowoc Co. Inc., Foster Wheeler, Gilead Sciences, Intuitive Surgical, an exchange traded fund tracking homebuilders including in the S&P 500, Schlumberger Ltd. and Network Appliance Inc.

You can read the full Vinik Asset Management quarterly filing with the SEC HERE. The firm's report for the previous quarter is available HERE.

Another in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

Highfields Capital Management, a large hedge fund that often owns shares of companies on the receiving end of takeover offers, reported 112 investments worth a total of $11.1 billion as of June 30, up from $10.1 billion reported in the previous quarter. Hedge funds report stock holdings and some equity derivative positions, but not other kinds of assets.

The 10 largest stock positions reported by Highfields as of June 30 were: Clear Channel Communications Inc. ($940 million), Russell 2000 iShares, an exchange traded fund, ($792.3 million), First American Corp. ($463.6 million), Station Casinos Inc. ($449.6 million), Motorola Inc. ($407.4 million), CVS Caremark Corp. ($407.1 million), Qualcomm Inc. ($396 million), Comcast Corp. ($376.4 million), Blackrock Inc. ($371.7 million) and MGM Mirage ($298.6 million).

The top 10 holdings reported by Highfields, as of March 31, were: Clear Channel Communications, Station Casinos, Qualcomm, Russell 2000 iShares, ConocoPhillips, Comcast, CVS, Motorola, Blackrock and Wendy's International Inc.

You can read the latest quarterly report filed by Highfields HERE. It's report for the first quarter is available HERE.

Another in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

Adage Capital Partners reported 610 investments valued at a total of $18.4 billion as of June 30, up from $17.5 billion the previous quarter. Hedge fund holdings reported to the SEC include long stock positions and some equity derivatives, but not other kinds of securities.

Adage's 10 largest stock holdings as of June 30 were: AT&T Inc. ($570.8 million), Exxon Mobil Corp. ($421.8 million), General Electric Co. ($379.6 million), Citigroup ($273.6 million), Abbot Labs ($265.1 million), Procter & Gamble Co. ($260.3 million), TJX Cos. Inc. ($258.6 billion), Merck & Co. Inc. ($242 million), Altria Group ($235.1 million) and Microsoft Corp. ($221.7 million).

Adage's top 10 holdings on March 31 were: AT&T, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Bank of America Corp., Procter & Gamble, Citigroup, Honeywell International Inc., Microsoft, Altria and TJX Cos.

You can see Adage's entire second quarter filing HERE. You can read its report for the previous quarter HERE.

One in a series of updates on Boston hedge fund holdings based on quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week:

PAR Capital Management, a hedge fund known for its investment in the airline and gaming industries, reported slightly lower assets of $1.1 billion as of June 30 in its latest filing (those reports only cover long stock positions and some equity derivatives). PAR Capital made news during the quarter by selling its huge stake in US Airways Group Inc., an investment valued at $319 million at the end of the second quarter.

The 10 largest positions reported by PAR Capital, as of June 30, were: Priceline Inc. ($201.7 million), Google Inc. ($78.4 million), Penn National Gaming Inc. ($77.2 million), Lodgenet Entertainment Corp. ($69.2 million), UnitedHealth Group Inc. ($61.4 mllion), Allegiant Travel Co. ($53.8 million), Bally Technologies Inc. ($31.3 million), Vonage Holdings Inc. ($29.2 million), Triad Hospital Inc. ($39.1 million) and Marchex Inc. ($24.9 million).

PAR Capital's top 10 on March 31, disclosed in a previous securities filing, were: US Airways, Priceline, Penn National Gaming, Google Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Allegiant Travel, Triad Hospital, Vonage, Lodgenet Entertainment and Republic Airways Holding Inc.

You can read the entire PAR Capital second quarter filing HERE. To get an idea what else has changed in the PAR Capital portfolio take a look at the first-quarter report HERE.

Lots of people got hurt when commodities broker Refco Inc. collapsed in a heap of fraud just months after it went public in 2005.

Lawyers were not among the injured.

The Refco collapse spawned lots of lawsuits, keeping scores of attorneys busy. The latest, filed yesterday by the bankrupt company's trustee, names Boston private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners as a defendant. The core claim: breach of fiduciary duty. Floyd Norris covered the lawsuit for the New York Times today in THIS story that lays it all out.

Lee Partners had purchased a majority interest in Refco and soon took it public. The Boston firm took its share of financial lumps with other investors when Refco went bankrupt. But the trustee's lawsuit claims Lee Partners knew there was plenty wrong inside Refco and hid that information from public investors. Lee Partners denies all of it. The firm casts itself as a victim and expects to pursue other people in court.

The trustee's lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, makes for interesting source-material reading. It's chocked with details about who allegedly knew what and when. You can see the entire lawsuit HERE.