Ranger NAV flatlines amid fund closure talks
RANGER Direct Lending (RDL) saw its net asset value (NAV) plummet to 0.01 per cent in March, as shareholders called for the fund to be wound down.
The alternative lending investment fund saw its NAV drop consistently over the previous four months as it fought an ongoing legal battle with Princeton Income, and absorbed losses worth $1m (£740,000) due to “the write-off of two large investments”.
In the manager’s report for March 2018, the fund manager said that without the Princeton Income not accrued/reserve, the NAV would have been 0.19 per cent, while the million-dollar write offs would have added another 0.6 per cent.
“Even though these loans were written-off in March, the company continues to pursue all means of recourse,” the report added.
Ranger has been hit with a series of woes in recent months. In April, the fund’s second largest shareholder Oaktree Capital made public a letter which called for the closure of the fund. Ranger has strongly denied that it intends to shut the fund and has instead nominated a new investment manager – Ares Capital – to replace the current manager, Ranger Alternative Management II.
Over the past few weeks, another major shareholder LIM Advisors has joined Oaktree in calling for the fund to be wound down.
Read more: Ranger Direct hits back at shareholders ‘imposing own agenda’
Ranger used its March monthly statement to repeat its view that the fund should continue. It confirmed that an independent valuer had been appointed on 29 January to review the fund’s portfolio but added that “the company [Ranger] is ultimately and solely responsible for determining the fair value of its assets.”
By the end of March, the fund was trading at a discount to NAV of 22.81 per cent, with the price per share sitting at $10.51. Cumulative NAV since the beginning of the year was 0.75 per cent.
Read more: Ranger Direct Lending hoping for “end of difficult period”