Discount Watch

We estimate the number of funds trading at year-high discounts to net assets jumped by eight to 24 last week. No surprise to learn that alternatives still dominate the list with 16 names – stubbornly high bond yields continue to weigh on sentiment and share prices.

By Frank Buhagiar

We estimate there to be 24 investment companies saw their share prices trade at 52-week high discounts to net assets over the course of the week ended Friday 24 January 2025 – eight more than the previous week’s 16. Usual graph below but, as it’s still early days for 2025, the number of year-high discounters is shown on a rolling rather than year-to-date basis.

A look at the top five table below tells the story. All five funds with the widest discounts to net assets are alternatives. In other words, week ended Friday 24 January 2025 saw a continuation of the theme that has dominated the Discount Watch in recent weeks, even months: share prices being marked down in anticipation that higher bond yields will lead to higher discount rates and lower asset valuationsOf the 24 funds on the list this week, 16 are alternatives: eight renewables; three from property; one from private equity plus another from growth capital; and three from infrastructure.

It’s a theme that looks likely to run for a while longer, at least until bond yields show signs of coming down.

Top five

FundDiscountSector
Ceiba Investments CBA-74.95%Property
Gore Street Energy Storage GSF-54.07%Renewables
Ecofin US Renewables RNEW-53.19%Renewables
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure FGEN-40.30%Renewables
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure ORIT-39.21%Renewables

The full list

FundDiscountSector
JPMorgan China Growth & Income JCGI-16.15%China
European Assets EAT-14.84%Europe
Schroder BSC Social Impact SBSI-29.30%Flexible
North Atlantic Smaller Cos NAS-35.20%Global Smaller Companies
Schroder British Opportunities SBO-37.08%Growth Capital
International Public Partnerships INPP-26.30%Infrastructure
HICL Infrastructure HICL-31.23%Infrastructure
BBGI Global Infrastructure BBGI-21.69%Infrastructure
Weiss Korea Opportunities WKOF-11.04%Korea
Literacy Capital BOOK-16.78%Private Equity
Supermarket Income REIT SUPR-27.67%Property
Care REIT CRT-33.05%Property
Ceiba Investments CBA-74.95%Property
Bluefield Solar Income BSIF-33.43%Renewables
Greencoat Renewables GRP-31.90%Renewables
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure FGEN-40.30%Renewables
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure ORIT-39.21%Renewables
Renewables Infrastructure Group TRIG-34.84%Renewables
Gore Street Energy Storage GSF-54.07%Renewables
Ecofin US Renewables RNEW-53.19%Renewables
Greencoat UK Wind UKW-25.35%Renewables
Merchants MRCH-4.95%UK Equity Income
Oryx International Growth OIG-35.60%UK Smallers Companies
Vietnam Enterprise VEIL-24.43%Vietnam