The Month in Interval Funds: July 2021

THE MONTH: JULY 2021

HIGHLIGHTS

· Three new interval funds were registered in July.

· Investment strategies included growth stocks in tech and fixed-income securities.

· Two registrations came from incumbent asset managers, and one came from an entirely new firm.

In July, crypto was volatile again, the U.S. economy responded to reports of the Delta Variant's spread, the stock market generally performed, and Robinhood's IPO has yet to match its offering price. 850,000 new jobs were added last month, and unemployment remained flat at just under 6%. Inflation is apparently transitory. The S&P returned 5.51%, DJIA gained 0.50%, and Nasdaq grew 1.36%. Consumer confidence inched up to a 17-month high, with spending plans rising despite lingering inflation concerns.

Interval Funds remained on track to mark 2021 as the strongest-ever year for new interval fund registrations, with three new funds filed in July, coming off another 2 in June. We again bumped our projected 2021 filing number from 26 to 27 – now over 30% above 2018, the current record-holder – and there are now 104 interval funds either active or in stages of registration.

Crib notes for new funds filed in July:

· Sweater Cashmere Fund: Sweater Ventures is a new firm aiming to provide retail investors access to investments in pre-IPO growth companies. The adviser has not launched any previous funds, although they claim to have nearly 18k prospective investors on their waitlist, so it will be interesting to see how the fund performs at launch. Read more.

· Oaktree Diversified Income Fund: Oaktree Fund Advisors is a major player in the pensions and retirement space, managing $153b in assets and represented in 67% of the largest 100 pension plans in the U.S. This fund will provide retail investors access to structured credit markets that are traditionally only available to institutional investors. Read more.

· Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunity Fund: As we covered earlier this month, this fund is aimed to represent the first conversion of a listed closed-end fund (VTA) to an interval fund. Activist investor Saba Capital acquired a majority stake in the fund and cut a deal with Invesco to facilitate a series of liquidity opportunities that will allow shareholders to monetize the fund's discount to NAV. Read more.

OUR FAVORITE ARTICLES FROM JULY

· Invesco Advisers, Inc. Registers the Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunity Fund

· Why Convert to an Interval Fund?