Ironsides Partners Opportunity Master Fund L.P. (“Ironsides Opportunity Fund”), together with the other participants named herein, is filing materials contained in this Schedule 14A with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with the solicitation of proxies by Ironsides Opportunity Fund at the 2015 annual meeting of shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of PIMCO Dynamic Credit Income Fund. Ironsides Opportunity Fund has filed a definitive proxy statement with the SEC with regard to the Annual Meeting.
Item 1: On April 28, 2015, Barron’s published the following article:
Hedge Fund Wages Proxy Battle Against Pimco
Activist hedge fund Ironsides Partners LLC is leading a proxy battle against Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the closed-end bond fund Pimco Dynamic Credit Income Fund (PCI). Shareholders are being asked to elect two new directors to the board at PCI’s annual shareholder meeting on April 30.
Ironsides believes that PIMCO is letting the fund trade at a steep discount (now about 10%), which they say is harmful to shareholders. It says its slate, which includes Robert Knapp, founder and chief investment officer of Ironsides, would work to initiate a share repurchase plan, perhaps a tender offer at net asset value (NAV), or maybe even a management change in order to improve the fund’s performance.
Pimco contends the fund, which has a 9% yield, has performed well and asks investors to vote in its board nominees. In an April 15 letter to shareholders the company says:
Most closed-end funds trade at discounts today and there are no “magic bullets” or costless solutions. There are, however, options that benefit some shareholders at the expense of others. We are committed to avoiding such actions and we will continue to act in the interest of all shareholders.
Research firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which analyzes proxies, has recommended shareholders don’t support Ironside’s slate:
While the discount remains a cause for concern, Ironsides has not demonstrated that change is needed given the fund’s performance relative to its peers, as well as a lack of evidence that the fund consistently has traded at a wider discount to net asset value than its peer group.
Knapp told Barron’s in a statement:
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) seems to miss the fundamental point that PCI’s discount to net asset value (NAV) represents more than $326 million in lost value for shareholders – lost value that deserves attention regardless of the fact that some other closed-end funds also have discounts. Ironsides believes ISS is perhaps being too deferential to PCI’s manager, PIMCO.
Source: Barron’s. Barron’s is not a party to and has not endorsed our proxy solicitation and has not consented to the use of this article in our proxy solicitation.