Soros fund takes on Countrywide, XM, Sirius stakes

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros reported in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that his fund has taken on a 1.78 million share stake in troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp CFC.N.

Soros Fund Management reported in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission its holdings as of Sept. 30, which included a $33.9 million investment in Countrywide.

The fund also reported stakes in Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (SIRI.O) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc XMSR.O, of 1.21 million shares and 103,265 Class A shares, respectively.

The shareholders of the rival companies voted in favor on Tuesday of a planned $5.1 billion merger that still needs approval by the federal government.

The overall value of Soros' fund decreased to $2.91 billion from $3.15 billion as of June 30. (Reporting by Karey Wutkowski, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)