Legg Mason’s ClearBridge Advisors unit completed a $1.27 billion IPO for a closed-end fund, the largest in almost three years.
The ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund began trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CEM, Legg Mason said in a statement. The fund invests in master limited partnerships in the energy market.
The new ClearBridge fund will seek to add 20% to 25% to its total assets through bank loans, Legg Mason spokeswoman Mary Athridge said in a telephone interview.
The IPO is the largest for a closed-end fund since Eaton Vance raised $1.3 billion for its Risk-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund in July 2007. Closed-end offerings dried up after the February 2008 collapse of the auction-rate securities market, a source of leverage finance for many funds. Nuveen Investments, a unit of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, raised $540 million in April for its Build America Bond Term Fund.
Legg Mason had about $658 billion in assets under management as of May 31.
