I am not so sure Wilson gets his hands on the management fees...

I am not so sure Wilson gets his hands on the management fees right now, he is just a very large shareholder rather than managing the funds directly?

My take on this is that the rights issue he will up his stake in the company more because he will take up all his rights whereas some shareholders will not, so he will try and get some of the shortfall also. It is easier this way because it is difficult for him to up his stake buying on market given the lack of liquidity.

The longer term outcome is probably to bid for the company using cash and or WAM scrip. He did this with another LIC a few years ago, PRV from memory. CYA has extra value with tax losses to utilise which was the case with PRV also. Of course once it gets rolled into the Wilson funds then he will get all the fees forever, also reduces the expense ratio of the WAM fund. Maybe he might even try and merge it with the smaller WAA or WAX.

Bottom line is CYA is one of the better ways to get broad blue chip exposure of the ASX with upside from corporate activity. The Wilson funds have been trading at premiums for awhile so accepting a scrip bid down the track could be nice. I am just not sure of the timing, he might be hoping we have a correction and the NTA discount gets to 15% plus and then he pounces quickly?