IAF - abrdn Australia Equity Fund

What this means for you

Karpus is known for pushing closed-end funds to narrow the gap between price and value. For now it has told the regulator it is not seeking changes. One other large investor owns more than 5% of this fund and has said the same; that is common for banks, brokers and index funds that hold shares for their clients.

Nothing is required of you. If an investor changes its mind, it must file a new notice within days, and it will show up here.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

1. Oct 30, 2026

   First Trust Portfolios L.P. sold down below 5% and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

2. Aug 14, 2026

   Karpus raised its stake to 8.5% (from 7.4%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

3. May 15, 2026

   1607 Capital sold down below 5% and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

4. May 14, 2026

   Karpus now owns 7.4%, as a passive investor.

   Original document →

5. April 14, 2026

   Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC cut its stake to 15.4% (from 16.5%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by ABRDN Asia Limited. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $140 million of holdings, as of July 31, 2026. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 7% on top of its own money, as of July 31, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Costs: 1% a year in management fees; 2% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2025. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 53 funds we follow that invest in shares, 18 charge a lower management fee and 37 charge less in total, at their last yearly reports. Both numbers are measured against the fund's own money, not the money it borrows on top, so a fund that borrows more shows higher costs on both counts.
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended Oct 31, 2025) the fund paid $1.47 a share. $1.11 came from gains; $0.36 was your own money back, not income. Most funds announce their monthly or quarterly payout on their own website, not in a filing with the regulator, so a cut or a raise there does not show up here until the next yearly report. A few funds do file a notice about a fixed payout; those appear under What happened, and when. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Oct 31, 2025): $14.98. The shares traded at $13.56, about 9.5% below that. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 1.7% over the last three months we have (May-July 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 1995.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $1.47 in the fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2025; $1.41 in the year ended Oct 31, 2024; $1.50 in the year ended Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Of that, your own money back rather than income: $0.36 in the year ended Oct 31, 2025; $0.96 in the year ended Oct 31, 2024; $1.05 in the year ended Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 1.99% a year in the fiscal year ended Oct 31, 2025; 1.94% a year in the year ended Oct 31, 2024; 2.02% a year in the year ended Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $141 million at Oct 31, 2025; $136 million at Oct 31, 2024; $110 million at Oct 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Oct 31, 2025 →, Oct 31, 2024 →, Oct 31, 2023 →.
• Borrowing: about 7% on top of its own money at Oct 31, 2025; 7% at Oct 31, 2024; 9% at Oct 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Oct 31, 2025 →, Oct 31, 2024 →, Oct 31, 2023 →.
• The fund had about 9.39 million shares at Oct 31, 2025, up 7.9% from Oct 31, 2023.As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →

What these lines mean: a payout that is your own money back, what a fund costs, borrowing.

What a holder made

• The year ended Oct 31, 2025: the shares returned +15%, counting payouts; the holdings +11.1%. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2024: the shares returned +35.3%, counting payouts; the holdings +32.4%. As of Oct 31, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2023: the shares returned +0.6%, counting payouts; the holdings +1.5%. As of Oct 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2022: the shares returned -25.7%, counting payouts; the holdings -18.7%. As of Oct 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Oct 31, 2021: the shares returned +50.5%, counting payouts; the holdings +38.1%. As of Oct 31, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +75%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Nov 1, 2020) would have become about $17,500 by Oct 31, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to July 31, 2026: +7%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 45 funds that invest in shares with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 30 reported a higher share return for that year and 14 a lower one. As of Oct 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• A past year says nothing about the next one. All figures are the fund's own, from its reports to the regulator.

Why the shares and the holdings can differ: the gap between price and value. Why payouts count: a payout that is your own money back.

What the fund holds

All shares (100%). About 3% issued in the U.S.

1. BHP Group - 13%
2. Commonwealth Bank of Australia - 11.8%
3. National Australia Bank - 5.5%
4. ANZ Group Holdings - 5.3%
5. Rio Tinto PLC - 5%
6. Aristocrat Leisure - 4.7%
7. Goodman Group - 4.1%
8. Wesfarmers - 4%
9. Macquarie Group - 3.6%
10. Westpac Banking - 3.4%

As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →