Red flags abound in the ASX LIC wastelands
Summary : While Independent Investment Research, Bell Potter, Livewire, Morningstar, the AFR, Affluence Funds Management and others continue to cover…
TOT - 360 Capital REIT - Can REITs be even worse than LICs and LITs?
Summary : This site is about the hazards of ASX Closed End Funds (CEFs). I intentionally limited this to LICs and LITs, but there is another type of …
Myth vs reality in the long-run performance of ASX LICs and LITs
Summary : Closed End fund (CEF) advocates, LIC/LIT fund managers, the financial media, and even some research firms virtually always overstate ASX CE…
CD1, CD2, CD3 - CD Private Equity Funds - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Of the 89 CEFs left on the ASX, three are mature private equity funds investing in mid-market U.S. companies: CD1 (2012), CD2 (2013) and CD…
Tracking the elimination of ASX Closed End Funds
Summary : As I expose on this blog, virtually all ASX Closed End Funds (CEFs) should be eliminated ; they have no defensible basis to continue existi…
Why HM1 shareholders should vote to convert it to an Open End fund
Summary : Hearts and Minds Investments (HM1) is a LIC with the "highest conviction equities from leading Australian fund managers, with all fe…
CaptiveCapital's 95 theses on why ASX Closed End Funds should be eliminated
Summary : Martin Luther famously nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church his 95 theses making the case against the Catholic church sellin…
WLE - WAM Leaders - Cheat Sheet
Summary : WAM Leaders (WLE) is the largest Wilson Asset Management LIC ($1.7b market cap). It very actively (300% turnover) invests in large cap ASX…
Do superannuation funds recommend LICs/LITs as worthwhile investments?
Summary : Australia's compulsory retirement saving system (aka superannuation, super) requires that 11% of employee earnings each year are invest…
Livewire's LIC/LIT coverage is proof that if you aren't paying for the product, you are the product!
Summary : If you search for ASX LICs or LITs, you'll find few websites with any significant coverage these days, as the CEF sector dies off . The…
WAR - WAM Strategic Value - Cheat Sheet
Summary : In June 2021, Wilson Asset Management raised $225m for its 8th LIC: WAM Strategic Value (WAR). Its strategy being to capitalise on discoun…
VG1 - Vgi Partners Global Investments - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Vgi Partners Global Investments (VG1) launched its $550m LIC in Sep 2017. In part this was off the back of some high profile short-selling …
Exit interviews with managers of failed ASX Closed End Funds
Summary : Since the July 2020 ban on selling commissions , over 34 ASX Closed End Funds (CEFs) have been delisted . Several more are on-route. Only 5…
Staying ahead of the retiree Income LIC shakeout
Summary : More than half of the market cap of the entire ASX Closed End Fund sector is in about 15 LICs (AFI, ARG, WAM, WLE, BKI, AUI, DUI, PL8, DJ…
PGF - PM Capital Global Opportunities Fund - Cheat Sheet
Summary : PM Capital Global Opportunities Fund ( PGF ) is Paul Moore's global equities LIC that listed in Dec 2013. PGF has slightly exceeded VT…
ALI - Argo Global Listed Infrastructure - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Argo Global Listed Infrastructure (ALI) is a $376m LIC managed by Argo Investments, best known for its $6.5b ARG LIC. Since 2015, its gener…
AFI - Australian Foundation Investment Co - Cheat Sheet
Summary : With invested assets over $8.5 billion, the Australian Foundation Investment Company (AFI) is the 800 pound Closed End Fund gorilla on the…
Which CEFs blatantly advertise misleading expected returns?
Summary : Australian Closed End Funds (CEFs) are virtually all destined to underperform cheap index funds in the long run. Hence, it is no surprise t…
PL8 - Plato Income Maximiser - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Plato Income Maximiser (PL8) actively invests in Australian shares to generate a high, reliable dividend yield which is fully-franked. Pla…
PE1 - Pengana Private Equity Trust - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Pengana Private Equity Trust (PE1) is a diversified portfolio of mostly U.S. (~13% Europe, 7% Asia) private equity investments managed by…
Which CEF Management Fees are most misleading?
Summary : The incorrect but common understanding of Closed End Fund (CEF) costs is that there is a base Management Fee of 1-1.5% of "Net Asse…
TGF - Tribeca Global Natural Resources - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Tribeca Global Natural Resources (TGF) has an "active long short investment strategy that seeks to profit from from the inherent vola…
HM1 - Hearts and Minds Investments - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Hearts and Minds Investments (HM1) is a LIC with the "highest conviction equities from leading Australian fund managers, with all fee…
RF1 - Regal Investment Fund - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Regal Funds Management and Phil King have risen swiftly in recent years as a leading alternatives and hedge fund manager. The RF1 LIT is …
Ending the CEF Dividend Reinvestment at NAV ripoff
Summary : ASX CEFs have existed for decades with their myriad ripoffs, pitfalls and leakages. No government agency effectively monitors and reforms t…
WAX - WAM Research - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Wilson Asset Management's LIC funds long-run outperformance figures are a fantasy . In this post, I reveal the true performance of WAM …
When does CEF "skin in the game" become a blocking stake?
Summary : The active management industry can talk endlessly about finding an outperforming manager because this already assumes that this is actually…
TEK - Thorney Technologies - Cheat Sheet
Summary : Geoff Wilson popularized "buying a dollar for 80 cents" regarding ASX CEF discounts, and this misleading and simplistic phrase ra…
LSF - L1 Long Short Fund - Cheat Sheet
Summary : LSF is a genuine long short fund, with very high gross exposure, considerable portfolio turnover, and it often diverges significantly from …
Did the end of CEF selling commissions signal the slow death of the industry?
Summary : It's not well understood, but the majority of ASX CEFs only came into existence due to selling fees (typically 1-2%) paid to financial …
Is Geoff Wilson correct about why LICs trade at discounts?
Summary : Geoff Wilson consistently claims it is straightforward for ASX LICs to trade near or even above NTA: they just need to perform well, commun…
Which activist funds are now targeting ASX CEFs?
Summary : Contrary to the claims of ASX Closed End Fund (CEF) boosters, the industry is destined to shrink over time. Until now, the protaganists for…
PIA - Pengana International Equities - Cheat Sheet
Summary : The ASX is plagued with massively underperforming CEFs at huge discounts but little shareholder activism to wind them up and extract the NA…
SB2 - Salter Brothers Emerging Companies - Cheat Sheet
Summary : At 30th June 2023 , you could buy $1 worth of Salter Brothers Emerging Companies LIC (SB2) assets for just 73c. Geoff Wilson says buying a …
Wilson Funds Management - Performance Tables
Wilson Funds Management - Performance Tables