agency costs namely management performance. The argument that discounts reflect the quality of the management has been … performance model and finally Carhart (1997), performance persistence theory. The results contradict Gruber's (1996) evidence of …

the influence of premiums that correspond to underwriting fees and start-up costs. The expense ratio can be proxied … monthly as percentage of total assets. These include the annual management charge or staff costs, auditors and custody fees …, directors fees and marketing costs. On average the six factor model can explain 67% of the variation in the excess discount …