Third Poi. $ Share News (TPOU)

(Correcting the company's name in the fifth paragraph.)

(Alliance News) - Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd on Thursday launched new initiatives to narrow its discount, including an up to USD200 million buyback scheme.

The closed-end hedge fund's share price discount to NAV widened in the first half of 2019 to 25% from 19% the year before. In a bid to fix this, the firm will put in place a three-year buyback programme to buy up to USD200 million of its own stock, no more than 15% of its outstanding stock.

Third Point Offshore shares were up 4.9% at USD16.10 on Thursday afternoon in London, a 19% discount to its June 30 NAV per share of USD19.85. On Friday morning, shares were down 0.6% at USD16.31.

This USD200 million figure accounts for just below a third of Third Point Offshore's market capital and "is intended to be on an ongoing basis until such point that the discount to NAV has materially improved".

In addition to the buyback, Third Point Offshore is also planning to increase communication and marketing to both existing investors and to prospective investors "with enhanced disclosure, with a view to highlighting [Third Point Offshore] as the premium hedge fund within the sector".

If the discount is not improved in the next three years, then the firm will consider other proposals.

At its next annual general meeting, Third Point Offshore will propose amending its name to Third Point Investors Ltd.

Chair Steve Bates said: "A series of improvements to the corporate governance arrangements of the company over the last eighteen months has not delivered improvements in the level of discount the board had anticipated. It is clear further measures are required.

"The board believes the company's appeal will be broadened by a combination of an active buyback approach with a campaign to explain why Third Point is a premium hedge fund offering unique strategies to investors. The buyback will be accretive to NAV, while the marketing campaign will seek to demonstrate why Third Point is attractive to a broad investor base. If these measures fail to improve the share price significantly after a reasonable period of three years, the board will consult with shareholders on alternative approaches."

By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com

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