ASA Gold and Precious Metals is having a half-year that the ledgers say is one of the best in its 67-year history, and a governance fight the ledgers cannot price at all. NAV rose 26.2% to $73.87 a share in the six months ended May 31, 2026, on a 31% gold move and a $120.9 million realized-gain harvest in a Canadian-and-Australian gold-equity portfolio up roughly 80% year over year. Net assets crossed $1.36 billion, the highest in the fund's modern history. By every measure the semi-annual report is built to capture - NAV, market price, total return, repurchase activity - this is a top-quartile print. The five-year NAV return compounded to 21.3% per year, the best stretch in the fund's history. The 10-year sits at 18.8%.
The number the ledgers do not print is the one that matters most for the next twelve months: Saba Capital Management owns 32.16% of the fund's shares, and on June 25, 2026 - four weeks after the period closed - the company Saba had been fighting for two and a half years finally capitulated. Merk Investments was effectively removed as investment adviser (the IAA was renewed for a single 90-day stretch on March 26, and Axel Merk resigned as Chief Operating Officer on June 10, 2026). Paul Kazarian - a Saba Capital portfolio manager elected to the board in 2024 on Saba's nomination - was named President and Principal Executive Officer on June 24. An "Investment Committee" of three directors, chaired by Kazarian, is now running the $1.36 billion portfolio internally until the Special Committee finds a new external manager. Saba itself provides trade-execution and administrative support on a no-fee basis. A registered closed-end fund externally advised for the better part of a decade just became, for the moment, an internally-managed fund run out of its own boardroom, with its largest shareholder sitting in the chair.
The market's read is sharply negative. ASA closed at $64.25 on May 29, 2026 - a 13.0% discount to NAV. By July 28 the share price had fallen to $50.11, a 32% discount. As of August 13, 2026, the share price has recovered to $57.40, leaving the discount at 22.3%. Net assets are $302 million more than market capitalization. The reported quarter was the print; the discount widening is the reaction to the post-quarter regime change. The single thesis of this report is that the 22% discount is the market's discount on governance and on the absence of a permanent external manager - and the falsification framework is the dates on which the Special Committee's process either delivers a credible external successor or fails to.