Investment trust insider on Pershing Square – James Carthew: Pershing Square on my buy-list after fresh US listing talk
In the North American sector, the best-performing fund over 2022 was North American Income Trust (NAIT), which grew total net asset value (NAV) by 7.3% and oversaw a 12.8% total return to in shareholders driven by the resurgence of value relative to growth.
Look longer term, however, and the clear sector leader is Pershing Square Holdings (PSH), the £5.7bn FTSE 100 investment company which has delivered underlying NAV returns of more than 128% over three years and 300% over five years.
PSH operates with a highly focused portfolio of liquid North American companies. It holds sizeable stakes in some of these, which might affect its ability to turn the portfolio into cash in a hurry, but this is an insufficient argument to explain the very wide 35% discount.
I bought some back in April 2021 when the discount was closer to 25% and I am pleased to say that I have made money since then despite the discount widening, helped a bit by the strong dollar. However, as the discount has widened, I am wondering about adding to my position.
I struggle to come up with any valid reason why the discount is so wide, and… read more here