Bulldog Investors is a hedge fund founded by Philip Goldstein that specializes in activist situations. Mr. Goldstein is well regarded among activist hedge funds after he recent argued against the SEC's required 13F filings, which require a complete list of the hedge funds holdings. He argued that hedge funds' holdings should be considered trade secrets, as the primary activity of a hedge fund is to uncover undervalued companies that are not in the public's sight. Meanwhile, the hedge fund has also been subjected to a lawsuit by the State of Massachusetts after it allegedly offer unregistered securities to the public. Regardless of their current state, however, the hedge fund seems to be focusing on an interesting strategy during the last few months.

Specifically, Bulldog Investors seems to be focusing on closed-end mutual funds that are trading well below net asset value, seeking to unlock value through a restructuring. Simply put, closed-end mutual funds are publicly traded portfolios that do not trade on par with their assets. Rather, they can be overvalued or undervalued just like stocks. Bulldog Investors has recently targeted such funds trading significantly below NAV - such as MFS Government Markets Income Trust, AEW Real Estate Income Fund, Franklin Universal Trust, RMR Hospitality Real Estate Fund, and several other. The idea is that by converting these closed-end funds to open-end mutual funds (which are required to trade at NAV), they can immediately unlock a significant amount of value. Whether or not this strategy actually works remains to be seen; however, Bulldog Investors is certainly a hedge fund worth tracking!