Toscafund Takes Stakes in WaMu

Toscafund Asset Management LLP, the London hedge fund founded by Martin Hughes, became a top shareholder in Washington Mutual Inc. and Sovereign Bancorp Inc., the two-largest U.S. savings and loans. Toscafund owned 105.5 million shares, or 6 percent, of Seattle-based Washington Mutual, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought a 5.1 percent stake of Sovereign, it said in a separate filing.