Almost two years ago, as Australia emerged from its pandemic hangover, Chanticleer wrote about an unusual problem at Australia’s oldest and largest listed investment company: shares in Australian Foundation Investment Company were trading at a big premium to the value of its portfolio of blue chips.

At one point, investors were paying as much as $1.22 for $1 worth of shares. While LICs like trading at a small premium to their net tangible assets (their portfolio value expressed on a per-share basis), AFIC chief executive Mark Freeman went out of his way at the time to tell investors that the company’s shares were no bargain.