World’s Top Junk-Muni Fund Is Loaded With a Rarely Traded Stock

  • Energy Harbor shares are top holding in 15 of Nuveen’s funds
  • Received in debt workout, shares deliver boon — and a risk
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The biggest holding in the world’s biggest high-yield municipal bond fund isn’t a municipal bond.

It’s a $1.5 billion stake in shares of Energy Harbor Corp., a thinly traded power company that’s not listed on any US stock exchange. The Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond Fund — like many others run by the investment giant — received the stock three years ago after the company’s precursor, FirstEnergy Solutions, restructured its debts in bankruptcy.