THW - abrdn World Healthcare Fund

What this means for you

None of the investors we follow has reported owning 5% or more of this fund. That is the normal state for most closed-end funds.

Nothing is required of you. If that changes, the notice appears here within a day of being filed with the regulator.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

1. May 15, 2026

   The fund said it may sell new shares.

   Original document →

2. Dec 5, 2025

   The fund said it may sell new shares.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by abrdn Inc. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $566 million of holdings, as of June 30, 2026. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 18% on top of its own money, as of June 30, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• The fund's own example of what borrowing does: in a year in which the holdings returned -10%, a share would return about -13.6%; at +10%, about +11%. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs: 1.3% a year in management fees; 3% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2025. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 7 funds we follow that invest in healthcare companies, 4 charge a lower management fee and 4 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.
• The fund's own cost example: $1,000 invested costs about $42 in the first year and about $340 over 10 years, assuming the holdings return 5% a year. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended Sept 30, 2025) the fund paid $1.40 a share. $0.81 of that was income; $0.59 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 Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Sept 30, 2025): $12.71. The shares traded at $12.60, about 0.9% below that. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Over the last two years the gap (a "discount" when the price is below the value) ranged from 9.4% below to 6.1% above. As of March 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 18% over the last three months we have (April-June 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 2015.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $1.40 in the fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2025; $1.40 in the year ended Sept 30, 2024; $1.40 in the year ended Sept 30, 2023.As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Of that, your own money back rather than income: $0.59 in the year ended Sept 30, 2025; $1.24 in the year ended Sept 30, 2024; $0.58 in the year ended Sept 30, 2023.As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 3% a year in the fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2025; 3.2% a year in the year ended Sept 30, 2024; 2.99% a year in the year ended Sept 30, 2023.As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $512 million at Sept 30, 2025; $491 million at Sept 30, 2024; $447 million at Sept 30, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Sept 30, 2025 →, Sept 30, 2024 →, Sept 30, 2023 →.
• Borrowing: about 19% on top of its own money at Sept 30, 2025; 20% at Sept 30, 2024; 22% at Sept 30, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Sept 30, 2025 →, Sept 30, 2024 →, Sept 30, 2023 →.
• The fund had about 40.3 million shares at Sept 30, 2025, up 5.8% from Sept 30, 2023.As of Sept 30, 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 Sept 30, 2025: the shares returned +7.3%, counting payouts; the holdings +12.5%. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Sept 30, 2024: the shares returned +26.9%, counting payouts; the holdings +22.1%. As of Sept 30, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Sept 30, 2023: the shares returned +1.7%, counting payouts; the holdings +8.1%. As of Sept 30, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Sept 30, 2022: the shares returned -13.7%, counting payouts; the holdings -11.9%. As of Sept 30, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Sept 30, 2021: the shares returned +26%, counting payouts; the holdings +17.9%. As of Sept 30, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +50.7%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Oct 1, 2020) would have become about $15,100 by Sept 30, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Sept 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to June 30, 2026: +46.1%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 7 funds that invest in healthcare companies with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 4 reported a higher share return for that year and 2 a lower one. As of Sept 30, 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

Mostly shares (84%), the rest bonds, preferred shares and derivatives. About 54% issued in the U.S.

The fund also sells options on its holdings to raise income.

1. VeraDermics - 7.4%
2. uniQure NV - 6.4%
3. AstraZeneca PLC - 4.9%
4. Abivax SA - 4%
5. Derivatives - 3.6%
6. Sanofi SA - 3.5%
7. Argenx SE - 3.2%
8. Novo Nordisk A/S - 3.1%
9. Abbott Laboratories - 2.9%
10. UnitedHealth Group - 2.8%

As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →