Shareholder votes at closed-end funds

8 closed-end funds have a shareholder vote coming up that could change what holders own.

28 such meetings were held in the last two years.

Routine yearly votes on directors and the auditor are not listed; what is listed here is a fight over the vote, a closing, a merger, a vote on becoming a regular mutual fund or on the fund's planned closing date. You can vote either way or not at all; if you do nothing, your shares stay as they are.

Your broker's letter may call this a "proxy contest" or a "proxy statement".

Votes coming up

Meetings held in the last two years

Voting papers came in the post - what now

The papers mean the fund is holding a shareholder meeting and you, as a holder, have a vote. Most years the vote is routine: directors and the auditor. Some years it decides something that changes what you own - closing the fund down, folding it into another fund, turning it into a regular mutual fund, or a large investor putting up its own directors.

You can vote either way, or not at all. Voting is free. If you do nothing, your shares stay as they are; a vote can pass or fail without you. Some funds need a certain number of votes to hold the meeting at all and will write again if too few holders answer.

When two sides are asking for your vote - the people who run the fund and a large investor - you will get papers from both, often more than once. Each side's papers say what it wants; the fund's page here says in plain words what the vote is about and when the meeting is.

The date on the papers is the meeting day. Brokers usually need your instruction a business day or two earlier - ask yours for its own cut-off. Voting by post, by phone or on the website printed on the papers all count the same.

If the vote passes and the fund closes down or merges, you do not need to do anything afterwards: the cash or the other fund's shares arrive through your broker.

Look your fund up on this site: its page shows whether a vote is coming, the date and the original documents, and you can add the date to your calendar from there. This is information, not advice.

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