my notes on BIF:
$700mm closed end fund trading at a 24% discount to NAV. Portfolio is 25% BRK and various other blue-chip stocks including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Yum Brands, and Chevron. Pays a 5.7% monthly dividend. ~1.7% management fee. Trades at a wide discount for what may in fact be a good reason – BIF is ran by Stewart Horejsi (Boulder Investment Advisors) and he owns roughly ~40% of the shares, which creates a serious issue of conflicted interest. Mr. Horejsi can repeatedly buy more of his fund at a 24% discount, doesn’t have to pay the management fee and for the assets he doesnt own – he collects a steady management fee. In a sense, this is a great investment vehicle to build wealth… for… wait for it… Mr. Horejsi. He can easily close the discount himself through buybacks or a liquidation, if he ever chose to sell however he has zero incentive to do so. An activist is unlikely to succeed given Mr. Horejsi’s massive ownership stake.
Conclusion: The current discount to NAV is a bit larger than it has historically been, and may narrow slightly. However, in all likelihood, some discount to NAV is likely to persist for years. At a 20% discount to NAV, current fair value is ~$8.00. At the current price, I’m not that interested. I would revist if the discount widened further to 30-40%. As a side note, the dividend is partially self-liquidating – and should, hypothetically, cause the discount to NAV to slowly decrease however shares are likely to just trade down upon distributions.