I don’t think it’s necessarily that straight forward (buy the managed fund if the listed equivalent is trading at a premium or vice versa).
You need to keep in the back of your mind that a managed fund is an ‘open’ structure where an LIC is a ‘closed’ structure. This COULD be important in a very big market sell off, where a managed fund is likely to be forced to sell stocks at the wrong time (to meet the inevitable rush of redemptions), where as a LIC’s investment capital is retained, and, if they are sitting on 10 or 20 percent cash, can actually be hoovering up cheap stock at cheap prices (all while the LIC’s share price is likely also tanking).
You also need to remember trust structures (managed funds) need to distribute their gains where as a LIC has more control over how much it pays in dividends (with in all likelihood, franking credits).
