Correspondence 0001829126-23-003993 from THIRD AVENUE TRUST (CIK 0001031661)
THIRD AVENUE TRUST (CIK 0001031661)
Date: June 8, 2023 · CIK: 0001031661 · Accession: 0001829126-23-003993
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File numbers found in text: 333-20891, 811-08039
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Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
3000 Two Logan Square, Eighteenth and Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2799
troutman.com
John P. Falco
john.falco@troutman.com
June
8, 2023
Via
EDGAR
Division
of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Attn:
Ms. Megan F. Miller
Re:
Third
Avenue Trust
File Nos. 333-20891 and 811-08039
Dear
Ms. Miller:
On
behalf of Third Avenue Trust (“the Trust”), this letter is being provided to the Commission to respond to supplemental comments
provided orally by the Commission’s Staff (the “Staff”) on May 16, 2023 in connection with the Staff’s review,
pursuant to Section 408 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, of the Trust’s Form N-CSR filing submitted to the Commission via EDGAR
on January 6, 2023 (each a “2022 Report” and, together, the “2022 Reports”) including the annual reports to shareholders
of the Third Avenue Value Fund, Third Avenue Small-Cap Value Fund, Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund and Third Avenue International
Real Estate Value Fund and the Trust’s Form N-CEN filing for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 submitted to the Commission
via EDGAR on January 12, 2023.
The
Trust appreciates the opportunity to address the Staff’s supplemental comments. Set forth below are the Staff’s supplemental
comments with respect to the Third Avenue Small-Cap Value Fund’s (the “Fund”) 2022 Report followed by the Trust’s
response to the comments.
* * *
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 2
1. With
respect to the distribution of realized gains from Central Securities Corporation, please
explain in correspondence how the distribution was accounted for in the current year and
prior year. Please provide a Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99 (“SAB 99”) analysis.
Response:
The Fund received capital gain distributions from Central Securities Corporation (“CSC”) of $314,723, $111,121, and $11,121
in 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively. The distributions represent 0.19%, 0.11% and 0.02% of net assets, respectively, which Fund management
concludes are immaterial as these amounts are below 0.50% of net assets. The capital gain distributions were inadvertently reported as
income within “Dividends – unaffiliated issuers” in the Fund’s Statement of Operations rather than “Distributions
of realized gains by underlying investment companies.” This resulted in an overstatement of investment income of 14%, 5% and 1%,
respectively.
Fund
management’s SAB 99 analysis follows below.
Impact
Analysis
(a)
Impact to Shareholders
The
impact of the incorrect classification of income (between dividend income and long-term capital gain) had no effect on the Fund’s
net assets, net asset value (“NAV”) or shareholder performance. From a tax perspective, shareholders of the Fund were not
impacted by the classification of CSC’s distributions as income (rather than realized gain) because all calendar year 2022 income
distributions to shareholders were reported as qualified dividend income, and, consequently, are taxed at the long-term capital gain
rates that such distributions would be taxed at if such amounts were reported as long-term capital gain distributions. The classification
error would not have caused a shareholder to reach a different conclusion or act differently because the total distribution and the corresponding
taxes paid would have been the same regardless of the classification. Therefore, there was no impact to shareholders’ taxable distributions.
(b)
Financial Statement Impact
The
issue was identified after the issuance of the Fund’s October 31, 2022 financial statements. When reviewing the Fund’s annual
report, Fund management determined the following Statement of Operations accounts would be affected due to a reclassification of income:
Journal
Entry
Debit
Credit
Dividend
income
$ 314,723.00
Realized
gain / loss on investments - investment companies
$ 314,723.00
Audited
10/31/2022
Annual Report
Updated
Balance
Dividends
- unaffiliated issuers
$ 2,000,917
$ 1,686,194
Total
investment income
$ 2,235,142
$ 1,920,419
Net
investment income
$ 346,964
$ 32,241
Net
realized gain on investments - investment companies
$ -
$ 314,723
Net
gain/(loss) on investments, options and foreign currency transactions
$ 2,221,340
$ 2,536,063
Net
increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations
$ 2,568,304
$ 2,568,304
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 3
Below
is the impact to the Fund’s financial highlight per share calculations and net investment income ratio:
Audited
10/31/2022
Annual Report
Updated
Balance
Investor
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
(0.01 )
(0.04 )
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
0.25
0.28
Total
from investment operations
0.24
0.24
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
-0.03 %
-0.21 %
Institutionals
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
0.04
0.00
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
0.26
0.30
Total
from investment operations
0.30
0.30
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
0.22 %
0.02 %
Z
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
0.06
0.02
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
0.26
0.30
Total
from investment operations
0.32
0.32
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
0.30 %
0.12 %
No
adjustments were made to the current year (11/01/2022 – present) general ledger pertaining to the prior year error (11/01/2021
– 10/31/2022).
Although
the capital gain distribution was not reported into realized gain/(loss), Fund management considers these amounts immaterial to the users
of the financial statements and financial highlights in the Fund’s 2022 Report.
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 4
(c)
Tax Impact
Within
the Fund’s 2022 Report footnotes, only the tax character of distributions and accumulated undistributed earnings would need to
be updated. The components of net assets would remain the same since the error is within retained earnings. See below comparison:
Tax
character of dividends and distributions paid during the year ended 10/31/2022
Audited
10/31/2022
Annual Report
Updated
Balance
Ordinary
income
$ 505,276
$ 329,732
Net
capital gains
$ 13,422,778
$ 13,598,322
Total
$ 13,928,054
$ 13,928,054
(d)
Prior Year Impact
The
Fund initially purchased CSC in March 2020. To date, the Fund has made no additional purchases or sales of CSC. Below is a listing of
the distributions received by the Fund in 2020 and 2021:
2020
% of
Net Assets
Ordinary
Income Distribution
11,121
0.01 %
Capital
Gain Distribution
11,121
0.01 %
Total
Distribution
22,242
0.02 %
Net
Assets
134,829,456
2021
% of
Net Assets
Ordinary
Income Distribution
77,847
0.04 %
Capital
Gain Distribution
111,121
0.06 %
Total
Distribution
188,968
0.11 %
Net
Assets
174,057,350
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 5
Below
is the impact to the Fund’s financial highlight per share calculations and net investment income ratio in 2020 and 2021:
2021
Audited
10/31/2021
Annual Report
Updated
Balance
Investor
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
(0.05 )
(0.06 )
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
6.48
6.49
Total
from investment operations
6.43
6.43
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
-0.24 %
-0.31 %
Institutionals
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
0.02
0.00
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
6.61
6.63
Total
from investment operations
6.63
6.63
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
0.08 %
0.01 %
Z
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
0.03
0.02
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
6.65
6.66
Total
from investment operations
6.68
6.68
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
0.15 %
0.09 %
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 6
2020
Audited
10/31/2020
Annual Report
Updated
Balance
Investor
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
(0.06 )
(0.06 )
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
(2.40 )
(2.40 )
Total
from investment operations
(2.46 )
(2.46 )
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
-0.37 %
-0.37 %
Institutionals
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
-0.02
-0.02
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
-2.46
-2.46
Total
from investment operations
(2.48 )
(2.48 )
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
-0.12 %
-0.12 %
Z
Class
Per
share:
Net
investment loss
0.00
0.00
Net
gain/(loss) on investment transactions (both realized and unrealized)
-2.46
-2.46
Total
from investment operations
(2.46 )
(2.46 )
Ratio
of net investment income to average net assets
-0.02 %
-0.02 %
The
Fund recorded the total distribution in ordinary income. Although the capital gain distribution was not reported into realized gain/(loss),
Fund management considers these amounts immaterial to the users of the financial statements and financial highlights in the Fund’s
2020 and 2021 annual reports.
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 7
Materiality
Assessment
In
evaluating the materiality of the misstatement, Fund management considered SAB 99.
● Whether
the misstatement arises from an item capable of precise measurement or whether it arises
from an estimate and, if so, the degree of imprecision inherent in the estimate.
○ Fund
management’s response: The error only occurred within one investment type and one holding (closed end/investment companies)
and not a larger investment class. Further, Fund management reviewed the purchase and sales journal for each of the Trust’s series
for the year 11/01/2021 – 10/31/2022 and noted that no other investment companies paid capital gain distributions during such year.
Additionally, the error amount is a known amount obtained through publicly available information from CSC (ordinary income and long-term
capital gain characteristics).
● Whether
the misstatement masks a change in earnings or other trends.
○ Fund
management’s response: There was no impact to the Fund’s NAV per share or net assets, as this was an error between income
accounts. Neither shareholder investment value nor cost basis are impacted. Shareholder transactions (purchases/redemptions) were unaffected.
There was no impact to the Fund’s total return. There was no impact to the taxability of the Fund’s distributions.
● Whether
the misstatement hides a failure to meet analysts’ consensus expectations for the enterprise.
○ Fund
management’s response: The investment strategy of the Fund is focused on acquiring equity securities of well-financed small
companies at a discount to what the Fund believes is their intrinsic value. The Fund’s investment strategy was not affected by
the misstatement described above.
● Whether
the misstatement changes a loss into income or vice versa.
○ Fund
management’s response: The per share “Total from investment operations” in the Fund’s financial highlights
remained unchanged. Only certain per share components would be updated due to this error, however, not in total. The ratio of net investment
income remains as a positive (Institutional and Z Class) or negative (Investor Class) before and after the error was identified.
● Whether
the misstatement concerns a segment or other portion of the registrant’s business that
has been identified as playing a significant role in the registrant’s operations or
profitability.
○ Fund
management’s response: Not applicable.
● Whether
the misstatement affects the registrant’s compliance with regulatory requirements.
○ Fund
management’s response: The misstatement does not affect the Fund’s compliance with regulatory requirements.
Division of Investment Management
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
June 8, 2023
Page 8
● Whether
the misstatement affects the registrant’s compliance with loan covenants or other contractual
requirements.
○ Fund
management’s response: Not applicable.
● Whether
the misstatement has the effect of increasing management’s compensation – for
example, by satisfying requirements for the award of bonuses or other forms of incentive
compensation.
○ Fund
management’s response: The advisory fee is calculated using net assets and a contractual rate. This misstatement did not impact
net assets; therefore, the advisory fee was not impacted.
● Whether
the misstatement involves concealment of an unlawful transaction.
○ Fund
management’s response: The error was unintentional. There was no fraud committed or intent to cause fraud.
In
conclusion, the Fund did not receive any other distributions from investment companies during 2022, 2021 and 2020 other than from CSC
and the Fund confirms that the distribution from CSC was not material to the “Net increase in net assets resulting from operations”
line item in the Fund’s financial statements for the years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021, and October 31, 2020.
2. Please
confirm that the Fund’s auditors reviewed the Trust’s correspondence submitted
to the Staff on May 10, 2023.
Response:
Confirmed, the Fund’s auditors reviewed the Trust’s correspondence submitted to the Staff on May 10, 2023. Additionally,
the Fund’s auditors have reviewed this correspondence.
3. Please