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2 Funds Plunge More Than 30% Since the Facebook IPO
Illiquid private equity (facebook not so much, but smaller companies) are always going to be volatile. I doubt the nature of private equity was disclosed. Not much private equity available to the public - the only thing I've ever owned was Sprott Resources (SCPZF) for a while. SVVC in particular is not only volatile due to the nature of the thing, but I believe it's thinly traded, too - only about 8m shares.
I think bringing private equity to the masses is really interesting - for those who are aware of the high risk - but I just never thought these two investments were the right way to go about it.
The Tech Value situation was crazy, which I sort of mentioned in the essay a couple months ago. Six private holdings + 75% cash = 170% return in under four months. NAV moved something like 3%, market price by 170%. When I asked a rep what sense that made, he pretty much said "none."
Firsthand Technology Value Fund, Inc. (“we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company”) is an externally managed, closed-end, non-diversified management investment company organized as a Maryland corporation that has elected to be treated as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”).
Somehow, I think you were hoping for more
It appears that closed end funds don't have to report daily NAVs. From the Investment Company Institute (ICI): Closed-end funds are not required to strike a daily NAV, but most do so in order to provide the market with the ability to calculate the difference between the fund’s market price and its NAV. That difference is called the fund’s “premium” or “discount.” http://www.icifactbook.org/fb_appa.html
Thus we have Firsthand Technology Value reporting its quarterly NAV:
Firsthand Technology Value Fund, Inc. trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol SVVC. The Fund publishes its net asset value (NAV) quarterly. The most recent NAV (as of 3/31/12) is $24.56.
Comments
I think bringing private equity to the masses is really interesting - for those who are aware of the high risk - but I just never thought these two investments were the right way to go about it.
David
Mark Cuban took a hit on FB shares as well. He took a beating and got out.
Well, technically M* does have a page on its site that says SVVC is a closed end fund:
the annual report at http://quote.morningstar.com/stock-filing/Annual-Report/2011/12/31/t.aspx?t=XNAS:SVVC&ft=10-K&d=46f6ef98c859001b7fe2a31050f97863Somehow, I think you were hoping for more
It appears that closed end funds don't have to report daily NAVs. From the Investment Company Institute (ICI): Closed-end funds are not required to strike a daily NAV, but most do so in order to provide the market with the ability to calculate the difference between the fund’s market price and its NAV. That difference is called the fund’s “premium” or “discount.” http://www.icifactbook.org/fb_appa.html
Thus we have Firsthand Technology Value reporting its quarterly NAV:http://www.firsthandtvf.com/index.php?fuseaction=fund.main