The NAVigator

John Cole Scott, chief investment officer at Closed-End Fund Advisors and the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance, says that 20 investment firms have launched 30 new funds under the 'Closed-End Fund 2.0' format since 2019, and the results and opportunities are promising. While the new funds show an average discount over 7 percent, the new structure returns the funds to net asset value after 12 years, which means that some of these funds are long-term bargains right now; he names four of the 2.0 funds that look particularly attractive to him now.

Mike Taggart, founder of Taggart Fund Intelligence and executive director of the Active Investment Company Alliance, says that the stock market's rough January along with the war between Russia and the Ukraine have put the market in a tizzy and widened discounts for closed-end funds by over 1 percent on average this year, but he notes that while discounts have become attractive, they don't make for automatic buying opportunities. Some closed-end funds, Taggart says, will stay at deep discounts and will see the net asset value fall towards the discount instead of rising to create the standard payoff bargain buyers are seeking. He says investors need to want the underlying assets and believe in their potential, rather than simply buying the big discounts.

Chris Oberbeck, chairman and chief executive officer at Saratoga Investment Corp., says that the structure of business-development companies -- which allows assets to increase in value when interest rates rise, while keeping liabilities fixed, thereby raising spreads -- makes them particularly attractive to investors looking for better real yields in a rising-rate environment. Oberbeck explains, generally, how BDCs will be able to weather the first rate increase, whenever it happens, with much less impact than most income investments will experience.

Maury Fertig, chief investment officer at Relative Value Partners, discusses the factors he considers when picking closed-end funds to add to client portfolios, and how those criteria have been impacted by headlines about rising rates and inflation, along with the stock market's heightened volatility and January losses. Fertig says that current conditions have changed some of his focus, moving him away from floating-rate funds -- which were trading at a significant discount a year ago, but which are close to net asset value now -- while convincing him to 'nibble' on some credit and mortgage funds that have fallen off in recent months, becoming more-attractive bargains as a result.

Mike Taggart, founder and chief executive officer at Taggart Fund Intelligence -- the recently appointed executive director of the Active Investment Company Alliance -- talks about his research into how closed-end funds have performed in rising-rate cycles, and also looks at how senior-loan funds perform, noting that the closed-end fund structure can make it harder for senior loans to live up to their narrative as being a plus asset when rates are going up.

Rob Shaker, portfolio manager at Shaker Financial, says that the market's recent struggles have re-started a cycle and repetitive pattern that closed-end fund investors should recognize and take advantage of. It starts when excessive selling pressures -- which the market experienced in January -- results in 'excessive selling' that widens discounts; once those selling pressures ease, the market rebalances and restores equilibrium, and investors take advantage of the bigger discounts to snap up bargains, which then completes the circle by raising prices and narrowing discounts to more normal levels. Shaker says investors should be at the buying point now, particularly for bond funds.

Duncan Farley, portfolio manager at BlueBay Asset Management -- manager of the BlueBay Destra International Event-Driven Credit Fund -- says that the many headline events affecting the market aren't all buying opportunities. The best opportunities in event-driven investing come from good companies with bad balance sheets or difficult circumstances, where the interval fund structure allows management to ride them back to good health, generating above-market returns in the process.

Connie Luecke, senior portfolio manager for Duff and Phelps Investment Management and chief investment officer of the DNP Select Income Fund says that the recently passed infrastructure bill -- plus the potential for elements of the Build Back Better bill to be broken out and passed -- should provide a business boost to energy and utility companies, communications firms and more, but she also explains why legislation isn't the only reason why infrastructure is poised to be a strong sector in the post-pandemic recovering economy.

Alex Condrell, managing director at Cliffwater discusses the firm's direct lending index and corporate lending fund and how investments in middle-market corporate credit should stand up to the challenges of rising inflation and interest rates, providing something close to historic return levels of 9 percent for the asset class without extending recklessly out the risk spectrum.

Robert Grunewald, chief executive officer at Flat Rock Global discussing how the interval-fund structure provides stability that allows a 'non-bank bank' -- which is the way he describes his firm -- to trade off some liquidity in pursuit of higher fixed-income returns. Operating in 'middle market credits' and investing in first-lien credits, Grunewald says that despite changing interest-rate and inflation conditions it remains reasonable to expect a return in the 7 percent range for the year ahead.