City of London Investment Group PLC (CLIG) is a specialist asset management firm headquartered in London, with additional operations in the United States, Canada, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. The company operates through two principal subsidiaries: City of London Investment Management Company Limited (CLIM) and Karpus Investment Management (KIM). CLIM primarily serves institutional clients, offering strategies focused on Emerging Markets, International, Opportunistic Value, and Frontier markets. KIM, which merged with the group in 2020, caters to wealth management clients in the United States, providing closed-end fund strategies across various asset classes, including equities and fixed income.
The group's business model is centered on managing investment portfolios on behalf of clients seeking exposure to specific markets without performing the stock selection themselves. CLIG generates the vast majority of its revenue through management fees charged on its Funds under Management (FuM), which stood at approximately $10 billion as of late 2024, alongside occasional performance-based fees. The firm's distinctive edge lies in its deep expertise in closed-end funds, utilizing a combination of macroeconomic, qualitative, and top-down analysis to identify value and capitalize on compelling discount levels in the closed-end fund space.
