This is a brave move by Forager. They obviously got sick of reducing capital on the buyback with no end in sight. They are too ethical to raise capital at the discount level it was trading at. I think Forager genuinely believe the significant discount was a stain on their reputation and going back to an Open End Fund (always trading at NAV) will remove it.
However, as an Open End Fund, I'm not convinced there won't be a continuing tide of redemptions that severely shrinks the fund. At least once any redemption penalty is over. They'll need to outperform.
Sustained active management outperformance (after all expenses) of broad, cheap index funds (e.g. VAS/A200) is very difficult. In almost 7yrs, FOR massively underperformed.
I cover the facts on FOR here : >
Exit interviews with managers of failed ASX Closed End Funds
