--- title: "2 CEFs To Watch As A Rare Activist Battle Plays Out" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/280026985.md" description: "Boaz Weinstein, an activist investor, faces competition from GAMCO Investors, led by Mario Gabelli, who is targeting Weinstein's closed-end funds (CEFs) to eliminate discounts to net asset value (NAV). Saba Capital Management, Weinstein's firm, has seen its own funds underperform, leading to wider discounts. Gabelli aims to enhance the performance of Saba's funds by nominating David Schachter to their boards, potentially shifting investment strategies. This battle highlights the dynamics within the CEF market, as both investors seek to maximize returns for their shareholders." datetime: "2026-03-21T15:55:53.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/280026985.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/280026985.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/280026985.md) --- # 2 CEFs To Watch As A Rare Activist Battle Plays Out Boaz Weinstein is a name many CEF investors know. He’s an activist investor who’s targeted CEFs in the past, particularly those he sees as underperforming. Now, another closed-end fund (CEF) investor is adopting Weinstein’s tactics—and turning them on two of the activist’s own funds. This investor’s goal? Wipe out the discounts to net asset value (NAV, or the value of their underlying portfolios) on these two funds, and in doing so drive their prices higher. It’s a fascinating story, and one that shows how, in the small world of CEFs, skilled activists sometimes turn their attention to each other. Let’s back up for a moment. In case you’ve missed it, Weinstein’s firm, Saba Capital Management, has been in the news because, as I wrote a week ago, they’ve taken a break from CEFs to target private-credit funds. And as we discussed in that article, the criticism of private credit lately has been highlighting the value of our CEFs as a source of high, stable dividends. Weinstein has rightly been pointing out that private-credit funds are underdelivering and a source of rising risk. His target has been a cluster of funds managed by Blue Owl Capital**,** which also runs **Blue Owl Capital Corporation (OBDC)**, a business development company (BDC) that leans toward private credit. If we compare Blue Owl’s performance (in blue below) with index funds tracking the S&P 500 (in purple) and the BDC market—in the form of the **VanEck BDC Income ETF (BIZD)**, in orange—you can see what Weinstein means: ## Saba’s Approach The strategy Saba is taking toward these funds fits the culture I’ve observed from talking to people who work for the firm: adversarial, tough and results-driven. But it’s also worth noting that Saba’s own funds have underperformed, opening the door for other investors to take aim at them. Saba manages two CEFs, both of which trade at discounts far bigger than the 7.7% average discount among all CEFs tracked by my _CEF Insider_ service. Let’s start with the 15.7%-yielding **Saba Capital Income & Opportunities Fund (BRW)**, in blue below: Here we see that, since Saba took over BRW, the fund (in blue) has outperformed the BDC benchmark **VanEck BDC Income ETF (BIZD)**, in orange. But it’s still delivered less than half of the S&P 500’s return (in purple). This is why BRW trades at a 15.5% discount as of this writing, and that discount has been widening. It’s a similar story at the 8.6%-yielding **Saba Capital Income & Opportunities Fund II (SABA)**: For a while, SABA (in blue above) was outrunning the S&P 500, but its aggressive investments in crypto (Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust is its second-largest holding as of this writing) mean its short-term gains have been fizzling lately. We should also note that about 20% of SABA was in private funds as of the end of October 2025, and the fund warns shareholders that they may be at risk of owning private credit if they own SABA. That partly explains why SABA’s discount has also widened in recent months: To be fair, comparing either of these funds to the S&P 500 and BIZD is a little “apples to oranges,” but for investors looking for returns and dividends, that may not matter. ## The Gabelli Response Here’s where our “other” activist comes in. That would be GAMCO Investors, run by well-known value investor Mario Gabelli. GAMCO is what I’d call a more traditional CEF firm, and it’s spotted an opportunity to target Saba’s funds in a similar way that Saba has targeted CEFs in the past. And one of Gabelli’s funds stands out now, for the opposite reason as SABA and BRW do: This one trades at a massive _premium_ to NAV: Here we see the 77% premium on the **Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT)**. The fund, which holds major US utility stocks like **NextEra Energy (NEE)**, **Duke Energy (DUK)** and **ONEOK (OKE)**, has surged to that big premium in recent years. That’s great for anyone who bought in back in the mid-2010s, when GUT traded at much smaller premiums (in the 7% to 10% range), as they can now sell at this premium. In short, GAMCO has done for GUT what Saba aims to do for other funds: boost their valuations, thereby delivering strong returns for investors. GAMCO aims to do this for SABA and BRW by nominating David Schachter, vice-president of GUT, to the boards of both funds. In other words, Gabelli is taking a page out of Saba’s activist playbook to influence the performance of Saba’s own CEFs. Will it work? Tough to say, but it’s not impossible, especially if Schachter brings Gabelli’s value-investing approach to Saba (which could, among other things, curtail some of Saba’s crypto and private-credit investments). That, of course, would be good for shareholders in the long term (again, if Schachter’s appointment comes to pass). But now is _not_ the time to pounce in hopes that this happens, since it’s still a long time until this story plays out. No matter what transpires, at least between now and the time the nomination is decided, both BRW and SABA continue to entail above-average risk. _Michael Foster is the Lead Research Analyst for_ _Contrarian Outlook__. For more great retirement income ideas, click here for our latest report “_**Indestructible Income: 5 Bargain Funds with Steady 9.1% Dividends.****”** ### Related Stocks - [GAMI.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GAMI.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Morgan Stanley $MS Stake Trimmed by Gamco Investors INC. 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