ICI Publishes Data on the Closed-End Fund Marketplace in 2015

The Investment Company Institute ("ICI") published data on the total assets in closed-end funds ("CEFs"), the investors in such funds, the use of leverage by such funds and other related information. The annual study titled The Closed-End Fund Market, 2015, analyzed data on CEFs, "a type of registered investment company that issues a fixed number of shares that trade intraday on stock exchanges at market-determined prices."

As cited, findings include:

• Total assets of CEFs decreased in 2015 after annual increases since 2008.
• No single CEF sponsor dominated the market.
• Of the largest 25 CEF sponsors in 2005, only 16 remained at year-end 2015.
• Only 10 sponsors offered more than 10 CEFs, whereas 37 sponsors offered only one CEF, and 33 sponsors offered two to five funds.
• "The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index for the closed-end fund industry at year-end 2015 was 817. This index weighs both the number and relative size of firms in the industry. An index number smaller than 1,000 indicates that an industry is unconcentrated. An index number greater than 1,800 indicates an industry is highly concentrated."