Were the fund to convert to open-end status, shareholders would have the right to cash out at the higher price.

A liquidation or conversion to open-end status would send the share price back to $10.

The tactic is to buy shares, at a sharp discount, and force the fund to convert to open-end status.

At a time when many closed-end funds are converting to open-end status, why is Steadman doing the reverse?

The fund, which began life as a closed-end fund in 1990, never won much investor favor, and was converted last year to open-end status.

But some came from the fact that the shares no longer traded at a discount because the fund had converted to open-end status.

Last year, he presented a proxy proposal to convert the fund to open-end status, and it received about 16 percent of the shareholder vote.

Piper said the four funds in the new proposal were not considered for conversion to open-end status because their investments were too illiquid.

Bear in mind that a shift to open-end status will usually be opposed by fund managers.

While a conversion to open-end status typically takes several months, most of the price movement occurs soon after the conversion is proposed.