The really subtle bit is that the dividend is defined as a % of NAV, not share price, so you end up with a dividend yield higher than 1% pa.

e.g. 30% discount means dividend yield of 1%/0.7 = 1.43%. And the wider the discount the bigger the upward scaling factor on your yield, hence the bigger the carrot to buy the shares (and hence close the discount).

Also as the dividend is fixed in cash every 1st January, the manager knows exactly how much cash withdrawal they need to fund for, and when it's due, right down to the precise date. Presumably a small help.

I could be perverse or naive, but as a long-term holder, I view the lack of disclosure as working in my favour.

It's a 7.4bn dollar fund, with typically 8 to 12 holdings, so could easily be a billion dollars a go for the biggest holdings. So if the market had too close a handle on what PSH is holding it could anticipate Ackman's moves, so the fund trades stocks at a worse price, impacting us as investors. It's exacerbated as well by Ackman's reputation, and the fact he probably won't be trading diddly amounts.

If anything major does happen we soon find out anyway, like the Netflix purchase. And when the market did find out about this, the Netflix price went up. And it goes up exactly because of the announcement that Ackman has bought in.

So Ackman is I think playing the disclosure game to my advantage, twice. Not only is he being cagey about what he's holding, he also controls the information flow on his new deals. So he gets a cheaper entry price on Netflix, plus a pop when he does tell everyone about the new investment.

Finally, I'm in the fund chiefly because I want Ackman to pick the holdings, rather than me forming my own view on them. And the other big point is that the insiders (including Bill) all have big skin in the game, so their interests are well aligned with investors. (Other than creaming off big performance fees, but that is another debate....).

Not sure about Netflix, interesting piece by Matthew Lynn in the DT this week. I ask my wife daily if we can cancel!

Personally, I'd sack the lot of them. And abolish HR departments also. You wouldn't believe how much stupid crap we have to keep an eye on these days. All created by regulators and the vast majority of it is pointless or actually harmful. See Bullshit Jobs for more detail on this. Still, it pays the bills.

https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/

I also wouldn't invest in anything charging 2+20. Come for the high fees, stay for the bad performance.