We've wanted to write about this subject for awhile, a speciality within activist investing that requires expertise and diligence.

Just as we started to assemble the proper research, though, a perfect guide to CEF activism appears. Financial journalist Jason Van Steenwyk writes frequently on CEFs at the Global Investors Spotlight website, and put together a nifty 16-page guide to activist investing at CEFs. We wish we wrote it, and are pleased to highlight it.

We have heard occasionally about the very small community of CEF activists. Phil Goldstein at Bulldog Investors is one of the more notable such activists, and has a few dozen CEF projects under his belt. Knowledgable and approachable, we've gotten to know and respect Phil and his team in the past few years. No one knows more about CEF activism. 

Finally, we should highlight a bit of academic research on activist investing at CEFs, too. While you can find numerous performance studies about CEFs, only a small number address activist strategies. Alon Brav and Wei Jiang (and two other co-authors) wrote one of the best, "Activist Arbitrage: A study of open-ending attempts of closed-end funds". Brav and Jiang have published other important research on activist investing, which we have listed on our Guide to Academic Research on Activist Investing.