corresp
August 27, 2010
Ms. Laura E. Hatch
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Investment Management
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549
Re: |
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The Gabelli Funds (the Funds)
September and December 2009 and March 2010 Annual Reports |
Dear. Ms. Hatch:
This letter responds to your comments communicated by telephone on July 29, 2010 with respect
to various Annual Reports of the Gabelli Funds that were filed on forms N-CSR with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the SEC).
In addition, in connection with this filing, the Funds hereby state the following:
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The Funds acknowledge that in connection with the comments made by
the Staff of the SEC, the Staff has not passed on the accuracy or adequacy of the
disclosure made herein, and the Funds and their management are solely responsible
for the content of such disclosure; |
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The Funds acknowledge that the Staffs comments, and changes in disclosure in
response to the Staffs comments, do not foreclose the SEC or other regulatory body
from the opportunity to seek enforcement or take other action with respect to the
disclosure made herein; and |
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The Funds represent that neither they nor their management will assert the
Staffs comments or changes in disclosure in response to the Staffs comments as a
defense in any action or proceeding by the SEC or any person. |
The Funds responses to your comments are reflected below. The substance of your
comments has been restated for your ease of reference.
Comment #1: You requested that The Gabelli Utilities Fund and The Gabelli Equity Income Fund
include the following disclosure in the next annual update to their prospectuses, or in a
supplement, if the Adviser prefers, that already appears in the closed-end Funds prospectuses:
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Any return of capital that is a component of a distribution is not sourced from
realized gains of the Fund and that portion should not be considered by investors as
yield or total return on their investment in the Fund. |
Response #1:
The Fund will include such language in the next printing of its prospectus.
Comment #2: With respect to the Gabelli open-end and closed-end Funds that have a reduction in
advisory fees on unsupervised assets in the Statement of Operations, you asked whether such assets
were purchased by the relevant Fund because it is part of the Funds investment strategy or solely
for proxy voting rights.
Response #2:
Generally, each Funds investment advisor votes all proxies with respect to Fund portfolio holdings
in accordance with its proxy voting procedures. On occasion, one or more of the Funds Proxy
Voting Committees, each of which consists solely of independent directors of the relevant Fund,
takes on sole authority to vote shares of a specific issuer and, more rarely, the sole right to
sell shares. When dispositive power is taken on by a Proxy Voting Committee, the Funds investment advisor
waives the portion of its advisory fee related to the value of the securities subject to the
exercise of such authority. No waiver applies when only voting authority is taken on. All assets
held by any Fund are acquired by its investment advisor in accordance with the investment objective
and policies of the Fund for investment purposes and not solely for the purpose of exercising proxy
voting rights.
Comment #3: With respect to The Gabelli Global Deal Fund, you asked whether: (a) the Fund meets
the requirements of Rule 35d-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act), which
requires a Fund to adopt a policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value
of its assets in the particular type of investments suggested by the Funds name, because it has
deal in its name and considering that approximately 58% of the Funds net assets are currently
invested in government securities and (b) whether the Fund should have at least 40% of its total
net assets in non-U.S. securities and invest in securities of issuers in at least three countries,
because the Fund also has global in its name, considering that approximately 89% of the Funds
net assets are currently invested in North America.
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Response #3: With respect to Comment 3(a), Rule 35d-1 requires that the 80% policy
apply under normal circumstances. The prospectus of The Gabelli Global Deal Fund
states: |
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The Funds investment objective is to achieve absolute
returns in various market conditions without excessive risk of
capital. Absolute returns are defined as positive total returns,
regardless of the direction of securities markets. The Fund will seek
to achieve its objective by investing primarily in merger arbitrage
transactions and, to a lesser extent, in corporate reorganizations
involving stubs, spin-offs and liquidations. Under normal
circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in
securities or hedging arrangements relating to companies |
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involved in corporate transactions or reorganizations, giving rise to the
possibility of realizing gains upon or within relatively short periods of
time after the completion of such transactions or reorganizations. |
With respect to both Comments 3(a) and 3(b), the Trustees of the Fund have reviewed the issue and are considering whether it is appropriate
for the Fund to remain in a defensive mode in light of the significant reduction in global merger
and acquisition activity in the past two years, whether the Fund should change its name, or whether
the Advisor expects that the Funds defensive posture will terminate in the near future and it will
expect to be able to make additional investments in accordance with its name. The Trustees expect
to have further clarification by their November 2010 Board meeting.
Comment#4: With respect to The Gabelli Global Deal Funds Statement of Assets and Liabilities, why
is the liability for advisory fees so large?
Response #4:
The Advisory Fees Payable in the amount of $6,053,494 consist of the December 2009 Advisory Fees
Payable of $183,303 and the Performance Fees Payable of $5,870,191. The Performance Fees are for
the period of January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 and are calculated in accordance with the
fulcrum fee formula.
Comment #5: With respect to The Gabelli Global Deal Funds Statement of Operations, why are
interest expense and amortization of offering costs combined into one line item?
Response #5:
Since the Series A 8.50% Cumulative Preferred Shares are currently callable, with a mandatory
redemption date of 2/16/16, the total distributions to preferred shareholders are recorded as
interest expense in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Interest expense and
amortization of offering costs were combined as one line item for reporting purposes because the
amortization expense was not considered material for separate disclosure. The breakdown consists
of:
1. Total Distributions to Preferred Shareholders in the amount of $7,231,579 represent the
Interest expense.
2. The amortization of offering costs associated with the offering of this preferred stock in
the amount of $90,713.
In future reports, the amortization expense will be separated.
Comment #6: With respect to the line item deferred offering expense in the Statement of Assets
and Expenses for the Gabelli closed-end Funds, you asked why this item was classified as an asset
and whether there was a future offering planned.
Response #6:
The deferred offering expense represents costs incurred in filing Shelf Registrations. In
accordance with the AICPA Audit and Accounting Guide for Investment Companies, the costs incurred
in a Shelf Registration Offering should be capitalized as a prepaid expense. When securities are
taken off the shelf and sold, a portion of the costs attributable to the securities sold should be
charged against paid-in capital. Any subsequent costs incurred to keep the filing alive should
be charged to expense as incurred. If the filing is withdrawn, the related capitalized costs
should be charged to expense.
Since Gabelli closed-end Funds Shelf Registration Offerings are effective through March and June
of 2011 and June 2013, there are possibilities of future offerings.
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Very truly yours,
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/s/ Bruce N. Alpert
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Bruce N. Alpert |
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Executive Vice President, Gabelli Funds, LLC |
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cc: |
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Peter D. Goldstein
Gabelli Funds, LLC |
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Marianna DiBenedetto
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing |
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Rose DiMartino
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP |
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Richard Prins
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP |
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Helen Robichaud
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing |
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Michael Rosella
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP |